Reports on Sunday indicated the devastating impact of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, where at least 11 people have been killed and property and infrastructure greatly damaged. The strong storms, which were fueled by record-breaking temperatures, swept in during the night of Saturday and left behind a trail of destruction.
The hardest-hit areas were Cooke County and Denton County in the state of Texas, where seven lives were lost. Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington warned that the number of dead could rise even higher, as the authorities were still surveying the damage. Rescue and search operations were still underway, though, in hopes of finding survivors in the rubble.
Footage taken by local media showed scenes of utter destruction—a fuel station reduced to rubble, and mangled vehicles. In Oklahoma, two lives were lost in Mayes County, while six others were injured, according to reports from the local emergency management authority. In Arkansas, two lives were lost: one was a woman who was found in her severely damaged house.
Emergency responders in Rogers city of Arkansas carried out rescue operations to free those trapped under fallen trees, downed power lines and ruptured gas supply lines due to the tornados. Besides human tolls, the storms disrupted surface traffic in Texas, leaving overturned trucks and closed highways in its wake. As many utility poles were uprooted, power outages were extensive and officials warned it could take a few days to restore the facilities.
With the cleanup and recovery efforts getting underway in the tornado-stricken areas, fears remained that even more severe weather might again strike as parts of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee continued to be at risk, the volatile weather systems in the region showing no intent of relenting.
