Severe storms with damaging winds and large hail hit Texas on Wednesday, leaving more than a million businesses and homes without power, US media reported.
Voters faced about 100 polling places in Dallas County without power during the state’s runoff election. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared a state of emergency, noting that some nursing homes are running on generators. He said:
“This ultimately will be a multi-day power outage situation.”
Dallas is expecting more bad weather and heavy rain Wednesday night, while Houston is preparing for severe thunderstorms with winds up to 70 miles per hour after recent power outages affected more than 800,000 homes and businesses.
Meanwhile, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell is set to visit Arkansas on Wednesday as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to assess the impact of the weekend’s tornadoes.
A tornado in Cook County, Texas, killed seven people, including two children, and killed seven people in Arkansas, while fatalities were reported in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas due to severe weather over the Memorial Day weekend.
About 150,000 homes and businesses were without power at noon Tuesday in Louisiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia and Missouri.
Bad-weather month in the US
It’s been a grim month of tornadoes and severe weather in the central part of the country.
A tornado in Iowa last week killed at least five people and injured dozens more. Earlier this month, storms killed eight people in Houston. April had the second highest number of tornadoes in the nation’s recorded history. The storms come at a time when climate change is generally contributing to the strength of storms around the world.
Late May is the peak of tornado season, but the recent storms have been exceptionally violent, producing very strong tornadoes, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University. He told CBS News:
“Over the weekend, we’ve had a lot of hot and humid air, a lot of gasoline, a lot of fuel for these storms. And we’ve had a really strong jet stream as well. That jet stream has been aiding in providing the wind shear necessary for these types of tornadoes.”
