Severe storms and tornadoes ripped through areas northwest of Dallas, Texas, overnight, leaving five people dead and more deaths possible, authorities said.
Cook County Sheriff Ray Sappington told NBC News early Sunday that in addition to the five dead, up to 80 people are believed to be trapped inside the collapsed Shell gas station.
Dangerous storms and tornadoes ripped through the central part of the country, flipping 18-wheeler trucks, destroying mobile homes and downing power lines.
Federal forecasters issued tornado watches and warnings for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas on Saturday night.
The National Weather Service in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said radar confirmed multiple tornadoes and hail up to 2 inches in diameter. Radar also confirmed a tornado near Decatur shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday. The storm struck late Saturday near Pilot Point, Texas, about 55 miles north of Dallas.
In Denton, another town north of Dallas, the fire department posted photos of heavily damaged buildings and said emergency crews were dispatched to rescue “multiple victims,” including people who were trapped after a tornado ripped through town and overturned an 18-wheeler truck.
The injured were transported by ground and air ambulance to area hospitals, Denton County Community Relations Director Dawn Cobb said in a statement.
The National Weather Service in Fort Worth, Texas, urged residents in the path of the thunderstorms north of Dallas-Fort Worth to “Evacuate Now!!!” About X The tornado threat has decreased, but warnings are still in effect for many other parts of the state.
Experts say a violent collision of cold and warm weather is causing a long and devastating tornado season in parts of the Great Plains, South and Midwest.
“The weather is changing and we’re not going to be able to get past that,” said Bill Berardelli, chief meteorologist at NBC affiliate WFLA in Tampa, Florida. Social Media Platform X:
“A huge heat wave stalls over the Gulf of Mexico, creating a cold pool in the Pacific Northwest. [is] “It’s the perfect situation for a disturbance to ride on a semi-stationary front and focus the storm into tornado alley,” he said.
Thunderstorms in Oklahoma and Texas are expected to move east into Missouri and Iowa overnight, along with several long-lasting supercells. These storms could produce violent tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts.
The National Weather Service said on Tuesday that a cluster of these supercells would merge and produce larger storms overnight across northern Oklahoma and central and eastern Kansas, adding that “localized and widespread flash flooding” was possible through the night.
The storm is expected to continue moving eastward Sunday, moving into the Midwest and Ohio Valley, affecting 42 million people in cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati.
Destructive wind gusts are most expected across the Midwest, but tornadoes and large hail are also possible.
The storm will finish off the East Coast on Monday, with some severe weather warned for the Mid-Atlantic, where 27 million people could see strong to severe thunderstorms in the region, including Baltimore, Washington DC, and Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina.
The main danger to watch out for is high winds, but one or two storms could produce large hail or tornadoes.
This active storm pattern is creating a risk of flash flooding, especially along the Middle Mississippi River. A total of 3 million people are under flood warnings, including cities like Memphis, Tennessee, and Tupelo, Mississippi.
Rainfall amounts over the weekend will generally range from 1 to 2.5 inches, but localized amounts of more than 3 inches are possible in areas where training storms occur.
Southern heat
The South will also experience extreme heat over the Memorial Day weekend.
High temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees above normal, with summer-like temperatures affecting the southern Plains and Gulf Coast.
Heat warnings have been issued for 7 million people across South Texas on Saturday, including Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, where temperatures are expected to reach 100 to 115 degrees.
Nearly 20 record high temperatures are expected Saturday afternoon in Brownsville and Houston, Texas, Key West, Florida, and New Orleans, with temperatures reaching the 90s and 100 degrees.
The Texas cities of Brownsville and Harlingen both set new temperature records on Saturday, with Brownsville hitting 99 degrees and Harlingen hitting 100 degrees, both two degrees warmer than the previous record, according to the NWS.
It’s expected to get even hotter across the South on Sunday, with more than 20 temperature records at risk in Corpus Christi, Florida; Miami; Orlando; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Dallas; Houston; and San Antonio.
Extreme Fire Conditions
Four million people are under warning of dangerous fire weather conditions in the high country and southern plains from Colorado to Texas, including Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico and El Paso in Texas.
New fires are at risk of spreading quickly due to a dangerous combination of dry vegetation, winds of 30 to 45 mph and low relative humidity.
