At Least 33 People Killed as Severe Weather Hammers the South

At least 33 people were killed across six states as severe weather swept through the South, bringing high wind gusts, hail, and a tornado outbreak.

Over 50 tornadoes were reported nationwide over Friday and Saturday, the National Weather Service said, with Missouri reporting 12 tornado-related deaths as of Sunday morning. Tornadoes were also to blame for three deaths in Arkansas and four people in Mississippi.

Kansas officials reported eight deaths Saturday from car accidents caused by dust storms — three people similarly died in Texas from the massive dust storm, which looms over parts of three states — with Governor Laura Kelly issuing a preemptive state of emergency due to wildfire threat presented by the weather conditions.

On Saturday, the massive storm front spanned from the southern tip of Louisiana northward to the Canadian border, with extreme conditions — tornadoes, high wind gusts, large hail and severe thunderstorms — threatening parts of 20 states and over 100 million residents. As of Sunday morning, nearly 200,000 people nationwide remained without power due to the storms, CNN reported.

The storm has since moved eastward, with Florida up through Pennsylvania still under weather warnings. Tornado warnings remained in effect for Georgia and Florida, including the area where golf’s Players Championship is scheduled to continue on Sunday; the start time for the PGA tournament, which was impacted by high winds Saturday, was pushed up in anticipation of severe weather later in the day.

“A couple of tornadoes are possible, as well as damaging gusts with the stronger storms,” the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center warned Sunday.

However, by Monday, the NWS anticipates that “the threat of severe thunderstorms will end as the boundary continues to move eastward over the Atlantic Ocean.”