Severe storms kill at least 22 over Memorial Day weekend

Severe storms killed at least 22 people across several central and southern states during Memorial Day weekend, with at least 25 tornadoes reported. Forecasters warned about severe weather hitting the East Coast and urged holiday travelers to stay alert.

In Texas, seven people, including two young children, were killed and more than 100 were injured as the storms swept across the state.

“The storm has caused significant damage to numerous homes and businesses, including the Gateway AP Travel Center, which received major damage,” the Texas Cooke County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Emergency services are actively searching the debris for missing persons, and there have been numerous injuries of varying degrees reported.”

The governor of Kentucky confirmed that five people were killed in the storms. Teams from the National Weather Service (NWS) are being sent to survey tornado damage.

Possible tornadoes are blamed for at least two deaths each in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

On Sunday, May 26, there were at least 622 severe weather reports from Wyoming to New Hampshire, according to the NWS’ Storm Prediction Center. That makes it the most active severe storm day of 2024. This breaks the previous record of 565 reports earlier this month.

More than 400,000 customers across the eastern U.S. were without power Monday, May 27.

President Joe Biden offered condolences to the families of the victims. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is on the ground assessing damage and that he has contacted governors to determine what federal support is needed.