At least 23 killed and thousands without power as severe storms and tornadoes hit central US

At least 23 people have died across four states after a series of destructive storms and tornadoes swept through central and southern US states over the Memorial Day weekend, with severe weather warnings still continuing for some states into Tuesday.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced in a press conference on Monday that four people had died throughout the state as a direct result of the deadly storms, as well as one critical injury, saying that the weather has also caused “massive damage to homes and businesses.”

However, this number rose to five after he added in an update on social media that another person, a 54-year-old Man in Caldwell County, had died from a heart attack while cutting up fallen trees as a result of the storm.

The other storm victims included a 67-year-old woman in Mercer County, a 62-year-old woman in Hardin County, a 48-year-old woman in Hopkins County and a 34-year-old man in Jefferson County, the governor said.

Deaths have also been reported in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and the severe weather left a trail of destroyed homes, businesses and power outages.

More than 400,000 residents across seven states were left without power as of Monday night. At least 11 tornadoes were counted passing through the affected states a day earlier.

Weather warnings for large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes continued to be issued for areas of central and eastern America on Monday as storm systems move towards the Gulf Coast and East Coast, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

The NWS has predicted that severe thunderstorms may form over Texas again on Tuesday, with wind gusts potentially reaching or exceeding 120 km/h.

Monday saw Texas experience record-high temperatures after an excessive heat warning was issued, with areas such as Del Rio being scorched with an extreme 112F degrees, tying as the third hottest day recorded in the region, the NWS said.

Other areas of the Lone Star State saw record degrees between 95F and 98F, while Florida was also hit with a record-breaking 97F in Miami, Florida for two days in a row.

The NWS said that through Tuesday, South Texas and southern Florida should continue to expect sweltering heat over the next few days, as well as widespread strong thunderstorms continuing to impact various areas of Texas, that could bring flash flooding, damaging wind gusts and very large hail.

As the deadly thunderstorms approached the East Coast on Monday, New York City was put under a flood advisory on Monday, as the region was expected to see between half and in and an inch of rain, as well as being under a severe thunderstorm watch until the evening.

Heavy rain is expected to continue to pummel the east coast into Tuesday morning in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, the weather authorities said, as well as the potential for severe thunderstorms to start to move and develop across the eastern part of the country.

The thunderstorms disrupted travel on Monday at JFK International Airport on Monday, after all flight activity was grounded for over an hour due to the severe weather.

President Joe Biden sent his condolences to the families of people who died in the storms. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) is on the ground conducting damage assessments and he has contacted governors to see what federal support they might need.

At least eight people have so far died as a result of the extreme storms in Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a news conference on Sunday evening.

One of the victims suffered from a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who died after their oxygen concentrator stopped working in a power outage. Another victim died from a heart attack while another was killed when a tree or a branch hit a trailer, they added.

Meanwhile in Oklahoma, at least two people were killed in Mayes County after a tornado ripped through the northeast part of the state.

Thunderstorms and tornados ripping through the centre of the country has left devestation in their wake from multiple deaths and destruction to buildings, as well as power outages across Memorial Day weekend.

In Texas, multiple tornados were reported throughout the state with one plowing through Cooke County on Saturday night – approximately 50 miles north of Dallas – leaving seven people dead.

The sheriff confirmed that a two-year-old and a five-year-old were among the dead. The victims also included three other family members who were found in a home near Valley View – a rural community close to the Oklahoma border.

“It’s just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe,” Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told The Associated Press.

Approximately 60 to 80 people also suffered non-life threatening injuries when an AP Travel Stop and Shell station alongside I-35 collapsed on them, after they had taken shelter in the building from the storm.

In Texas, more than 200 homes and other buildings were destroyed, with more than 100 others damaged – numbers that are expected to rise.

In Colorado, a lightning strike killed a farmer and 34 of his cows.

A rare tornado watch, which was labelled as a “particularly dangerous situation” by the Storm Prediction Center, was in effect for parts of Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and western Kentucky on Sunday and damaging winds, thunderstorms and two-inch hail pounded areas of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky.

Hard-hit states have also been hammered by power outages, according to PowerOutage.us, with more than 160,000 customers without power in Kentucky alone as of Monday afternoon, however as of Tuesday, this has now been reduced to just under 82,000 people.

Areas of Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and North Carolina were under a tornado watch until 11pm local time on Sunday, the National Weather Service said, with wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and ping-pong-ball-sized hail also possible.

As the destructive storms move into Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Weather Service continue to send out warnings to residents across Texas and across the northern and central High Planes into Wednesday afternoon.