US death toll from extreme weather at the weekend rises to 36
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The aftermath of a tornado in Tylertown, Mississippi, on March 16.
PHOTO: EDMUND D.FOUNTAIN/NYTIMES
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON - Portions of Pennsylvania, New York and Mid-Atlantic and South-east states in the United States were still under a National Weather Service watch for damaging wind and tornadoes, as the death toll from weekend storms rose to 36 people across six states.
In a White House statement, President Donald Trump said he was monitoring the tornadoes and storms, adding that “36 innocent lives have been lost, and many more devastated”.
Mr Trump announced that the National Guard had been deployed to Arkansas and pledged help to state and local officials.
The storms that hit the South and the Midwest headed east on March 16.
More than 340,000 consumers had no power in the affected areas as at the late afternoon on March 16, according to the website PowerOutage.
Missouri reported the largest number of deaths – 12 fatalities spanning five counties, the state’s highway patrol posted on social media platform X. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe said there was still one person missing in the state, which saw widespread destruction across 27 counties.
Mr Robbie Myers, director of emergency management in Missouri’s Butler County, told reporters that more than 500 homes, a church and a grocery store in the county had been destroyed. A mobile home park was “totally destroyed”, he said.
“Everything around it here is really bad,” Missouri resident Rick Brittingham told Reuters from Butler County. “The trailer park up the street had fatalities. So, I mean, we don’t have nothing compared to anything like that. I still have a home. They don’t.”
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves posted on X that six deaths had been reported in the state – one in Covington County, two in Jefferson 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 Division of Emergency Management said, adding that there were 32 injuries.
Eight deaths were confirmed in a crash involving more than 50 cars in Sherman County in Kansas, caused by a severe dust storm, said the Kansas Highway Patrol in a statement. Many injured travellers were taken to local hospitals.
At least two people died in Alabama due to the severe weather, Governor Kay Ivey said in a post on X. “We have reports of damage in 52 of our 67 counties,” she added.
Crashes caused by dust storms near Amarillo, Texas, resulted in three deaths, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety.
Thirty-nine tornadoes were reported from March 14 to midday on March 16, but the number was not yet confirmed, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Centre. REUTERS
