Holiday Weekend Storms Leave 23 Dead, Strand Airline Passengers, Cut Power Across South

Hurricane force wind gusts whipped through Dallas on Tuesday. The extreme weather caps a Memorial Day weekend of deadly storms that swept across the Southern Plains. The storms killed at least 23 people in five US states.  

As of midday Tuesday, nearly 937,000 customers had lost power in Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Missouri. And rescue crews continue to assess the damage caused by the severe storms. Some of the storms spawned tornadoes. Most of the power outages occurred in Texas. 

Officials said the storms led to the deaths of people in five states. The storms destroyed homes and businesses. And tens of thousands of flights were delayed or canceled due to the extreme weather. Memorial Day weekend is one of the heaviest travel weekends in the US. The travel delays continued into Tuesday.

In a statement, President Biden said the US government was “ready to provide support as needed.”  

“Jill and I are praying for those who tragically lost their lives as a result of devastating tornadoes,” Biden’s statement read. 

The twister that hit parts of Hopkins County, Kentucky, reminded some survivors of a deadly tornado that had struck in 2021, Nick Bailey told The Associated Press. He's an emergency management director.

“There were a lot of people that were just getting their lives put back together and then this,” Bailey told the AP. “Almost the same spot, the same houses and everything.” 

Reflect: How can communities come together to support each other after a natural disaster like a tornado?