More than 600,000 customers in 13 states, from Arkansas to West Virginia, were without power early Monday morning, after powerful storms and tornadoes this weekend leaves at least 19 dead.
There were more than 150,000 outages in Kentucky as of 8 a.m.; Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and West Virginia each had more than 50,000 customers without power, according to the tracking site. poweroutage.us. Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky said early monday that he had declared a state of emergency.
Severe thunderstorms, with the threat of damaging wind gusts and hail, were expected Monday across the Southeast region through the mid-Atlantic, the National Weather Service said. The Storm Prediction Center said. Flash flooding was possible from Maryland to the Catskill Mountains in New York, the weather service said.
Gov. Beshear said power lines were down across Kentucky and tornadoes and wind damage were reported. As of Monday morning, there were two confirmed deaths in the state: one in Louisville and a second in Mercer County, where a tree fell on a home.
Elsewhere, a tornado killed at least seven people in North Texas, including two children aged 2 and 5. Eight people were also killed in Arkansas and two died in Oklahoma as severe storms swept through the region, destroying hundreds of buildings and completely destroying the exteriors of homes.
“We got through at least the first part of this event,” Mr. Beshear said. speaking from a command center. “And we want to make sure we don’t lose anyone else.”
This system is the latest to hit the region in recent days. Five people were killed and part of a city was destroyed in Iowa last week after a powerful tornado.
Severe thunderstorms in Howell County, Mo., on Sunday produced hail the size of baseballs and tornadoes that downed trees and damaged homes near the town of Mountain View, Kelsey Angle said , meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.
Forecasters said storms forming over Missouri are expected to intensify overnight as they move east, blowing strong winds across Kentucky and Tennessee.
“Realistically, Kentucky and Tennessee will be in the crosshairs of damaging winds,” said Bill Bunting, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
