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Oklahoma City (AP) — The threat of a violent tornado in parts of the United States has proven deadly and destructive as it moved east into the Mississippi Valley on Saturday, killing at least 16 people and killing the home’s score.
The most deaths on Saturday morning were in Missouri, authorities said. Missouri Highway Patrol also reported several people being injured.
The death included a man who was killed after a tornado tore his house,
“It couldn’t be recognized as a home. Butler County Coroner Jim Akers described the scene where they faced rescuers when they arrived. “The floor was upside down. We were walking down the wall.”
The rescuers managed to save the woman at home, Akers said.
Arkansas officials said three people were killed in Independent County Saturday morning, while 29 others were injured in eight counties.
“We have our first responders to investigate the damage from the tornado last night and to help out with the first responders,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the X.
Meanwhile, on Friday, authorities said three people were killed in a car accident in a dust storm at Amarillo, the Texas Panhandle.
Death comes when a massive storm system travelling around the country unleashes the wind, causing a deadly dust storm and incites more than 100 wildfires.
Extreme weather conditions, including the winds of Hurricane Force, are projected to affect local homes for more than 100 million people. Gusts of winds up to 80 mph (130 kph) were predicted from the Canadian border to Texas, threatening snowstorms in cold northern regions and threatening the risk of wildfires in warm, arid regions to the south.
Some Oklahoma communities have been ordered to evacuate after more than 130 fires have been reported across the state. The state patrol said the wind was very strong and they defeated several tractor trailers.
“This is terrible here,” said Charles Daniel, the truck driver who carries a 48-foot (14.6 meters) trailer along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma. “There’s a lot of sand and dirt in the air. I haven’t pushed it over 55 miles. If so, I’m scared to be blown away.”
Experts say it’s not uncommon to see such weather in March.
“The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center is a major factor in Norman, Oklahoma,” said Bill Bunting, of the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. “So what it’s doing is having a huge impact on a very large area.”
The tornado collided amidst the storm
The Storm Prediction Center said rapidly moving storms could produce twisters as big as baseball, but said the biggest threat comes from linear winds near or beyond the force of a hurricane.
The center said parts of Mississippi, including Jackson and Hattiesburg, and areas including Alabama, including Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, are at high risk. Heavy storms and tornadoes were also possible throughout the Panhandle in eastern Louisiana, western Georgia, central Tennessee and western Florida.
Wildfires break in dry gusts of wind
The Southern Plains wildfires threatened to spread rapidly amidst warm, dry weather and strong winds, and evacuation was ordered Friday for communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.
The flames in Roberts County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, quickly exploded from a square mile to an estimated 32.8 square mile (85 square kilometers), the Forest Service at Texas A&M University had stopped moving forward by Friday evening, the A&M University Forest Service at Texas said.
About 60 miles (90 km) to the south, another fire grew to about 3.9 square miles (10 square kilometers) before moving forward in the afternoon.
The strong winds have also knocked out over 260,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according to the website Poweroutage.us.
Blizzard warning on the Northern Plains
The National Weather Service issued a snowstorm warning early Saturday in western Minnesota and parts of South Dakota’s Far East. Accumulation of 3-6 inches (7.6-15.2 cm) of snow was expected, allowing up to 1 foot (30 cm).
Winds breaking through 60 mph (97 kph) were expected to cause a whiteout condition.
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