Tornadoes strike US South, killing 33 people amid rising risk, CNN says

HOUSTON - Tornadoes killed at least 33 people across several states in the US Midwest and South-east on the night of March 15, media outlet CNN reported.

Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.

Missouri reported 12 fatalities spanning five counties, the state’s highway patrol posted on X, adding earlier that they were storm-related and shared images of boats piled on top of one another at a marina that was destroyed by the weather.

Mr Robbie Myers, the director of emergency management in Missouri’s Butler County, told reporters that more than 500 homes, a church and grocery store in the county were destroyed. A mobile home park had been “totally destroyed,” he said.

The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail”.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves posted on X that six deaths had been reported in the state – one in Covington County, two in Jeff Davis County and three in Walthall County.

According to preliminary assessments, 29 people were injured statewide and 21 counties sustained storm damage, Mr Reeves said.

In Arkansas, three deaths occurred, the state’s Department of Emergency Management said, adding that there were 32 injuries.

Eight people died in Kansas in a crash involving more than 50 vehicles, caused by low visibility during a “severe dust storm,” local police said.

Six fatalities were reported earlier in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County – where multiple injuries were also reported – and one each in Butler, Jefferson and St Louis counties, police said.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through, it was so fast, our ears were all about to burst,” Ms Alicia Wilson, who was evacuated from her home in Missouri, told TV station KSDK.

Further south in Texas, local authorities told AFP that four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency in response and said she had spoken with President Donald Trump.

“He said to tell the people of Arkansas he loves them and he and his administration are here to help with whatever we need following last night’s tornadoes,” Ms Sanders wrote on X.

At least 200,000 homes and businesses across the central United States were without power by March 15 evening, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.

Twenty-six tornadoes were reported but not confirmed to have touched down late on March 15 night and early on March 16 as a low-pressure system drove powerful thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri, said Mr David Roth, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Centre. 

“Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which may be long-track and potentially violent, should continue into this evening,” the National Weather Service said.

Tornadoes are spinning columns of air that touch the ground from massive cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds.

The central and southern American states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas get the most violent ones due to unique geographical and meteorological conditions.

Dubbed “Tornado Alley,” this is where winds of widely varying temperatures meet in volatile, potent storm clouds, with most storms occurring from May to June.

In 2024, 54 people died in tornado-related incidents in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. AFP, REUTERS