A violent storm system wielding tornadoes, high winds, lightning, hail and rain walloped the South and Midwest on Monday, killing at least two people, according to authorities. The devastation stretched from Texas to Alabama, leaving a path of torched homes, uprooted trees, crumpled cars and downed power lines.
The dead included a 33-year-old former Marine whose Arkansas home was hit by a tornado and a 75-year-old woman in Alabama whose home was crushed by a tree, The Weather Channel reported. Other tornadoes were reported in Missouri, where Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles was postponed.
The extreme weather was expected to continue roiling the region on Tuesday, affecting an estimated 36 million people, including residents of Memphis, Nashville, Houston, Indianapolis, New Orleans and St. Louis. Flash flooding was expected in many of those places. In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as thousands of people were without electricity.
Several homes in Little River, Arkansas, about 150 miles southwest of Little Rock, were destroyed. Elsewhere in the state, trees and power lines had toppled, said Rick Fahr, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The storm shut off power to about 7,200 homes and businesses in Arkansas, the Associated Pres reported.
NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported downed power lines in North Texas following heavy rain and hail Monday morning.
The storms will move southeast on Tuesday. Although the risk of tornadoes is lower in cities from Tallahassee to Cincinnati, rains and winds could still cause heavy damage on Tuesday, according to Weather.com.
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— Elisha Fieldstadt