A tornado could have crossed Interstate 20 in Canton, flipping vehicles in a dealership and damaging a building.
On Monday, the National Weather Service announced that one of the EF-3 tornadoes was actually stronger, a EF-4, a category with winds close to a maximum of 200 miles per hour.
The third tornado, which has been upgraded to an EF-4, had a much larger track, setting down at 5:29 p.m.in the Eustace area, which is in Henderson County, and stopped just west of Canton at 6:10 p.m.
More damage and casualties could be discovered Sunday after severe flooding and tornadoes killed at least seven people and injured dozens in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, authorities said.
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Several southern states braced for more severe weather Monday in the wake of storms, tornadoes and flooding that claimed 16 lives and left authorities in Arkansas searching for two children swept away by raging waters.
Across the US, nine people have been killed by tornadoes and flooding in the Midwest and Southeast.
Storms rolled eastward in a band stretching from Alabama into the Ohio River valley on Monday, leaving isolated pockets of damage in their wake.
A woman was killed by a falling tree near Fayetteville, Tennessee, on Sunday, Angela Phelps with the Lincoln County Department of Emergency Management confirmed to CNN.
At least two other people reportedly died in storm-related incidents, while two children were missing after their mother’s vehicle was swept from a road by flood waters in Madison County.
The extreme weather has claimed the lives of several children, including a 7-year-old boy who was electrocuted in MS after he unplugged an electric golf cart and dropped the cable into a puddle. “I really, for just a split second, I thought it’s gonna snap my neck”, York said. “But our little subdivision was the only one hit”, Ms Haik said.
Middle Tennessee was hit by a strong line of storms that knocked down trees and power lines earlier Sunday.
A woman in Arkansas was killed when a tree toppled onto her house during a storm, while a 24-year-old died while floating in a stream on an inner tube, the Democrat-Gazette newspaper reported.
A 65-year-old woman, Julia Schwede, was killed in Arkansas when a tree was blown into her home on Saturday night.
Millions have been under flash flood watches and warnings as the storm moves over the southwest and Midwest states since Friday. The agency did not provide further details, but the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page that Fire Chief Doug Deckard died “in a tragic accident” while checking an area during a thunderstorm.
In Arkansas severe storms are blamed for at least one death and flooding that’s closed roads in many areas.
On the tail end of the system, a late season snowstorm dropped up to 50 centimeters of powder in western Kansas, along with winds up to 90 kph (60 mph). Near Clever in south-western Missouri, a man tried to save his 72-year-old wife from floodwaters that swept away their vehicle, but her body was found when the water receded. Nearly 30 roads were closed from high water and washouts, his office said in a statement.
“We have at least four fatalities”, Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett said at a news conference on Sunday, adding that number could rise. Canton is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Dallas.
The National Weather Service has confirmed at least three tornadoes swept through parts of three counties.
by Floyd Cook
May 7, 2017
