Daily Times

A series of powerful storms swept over central and southern parts of the US during the country’s Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 22 people and leaving a wide trail of destruction and power outages. The destructive storms caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky and were just north of an oppressive, early season heatwave setting records from south Texas to Florida.

A tornado watch was issued from North Carolina to Maryland. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, who earlier declared a state of emergency, said at a press conference on Monday that five people had died in his state. The fifth death was a 54-year-old man who had a heart attack while cutting fallen trees in Caldwell County in western Kentucky, the governor’s office said. The death toll of 22 also included seven deaths in Cooke County, Texas, from a tornado on Saturday that tore through a mobile home park, officials said, and eight deaths across Arkansas. Two people died in Mayes County, Oklahoma, which is east of Tulsa, authorities said. The injured included guests at an outdoor wedding.

The tiny Kentucky town of Charleston took a direct hit on Sunday night from a tornado that the governor said appeared to be on the ground for 40 miles.

“It’s a big mess,” said Rob Linton, who lives in Charleston and is the fire chief of nearby Dawson Springs, hit by a tornado in 2021. “Trees down everywhere. Houses moved. Power lines are down. No utilities whatsoever – no water, no power.”

Further east, some rural areas of Hopkins County hit by the 2021 tornado around the community of Barnsley were damaged again on Sunday night, said county emergency management director Nick Bailey. “There were a lot of people that were just getting their lives put back together and then this,” Mr Bailey said. “Almost the same spot, the same houses and everything.”