Swaths of several US states are without power after a heavy stormfront unleashed dozens of intense thunderstorms and tornadoes throughout the American Midwest. Close to 200,000 people are currently suffering the aftermath.
Twenty three people were killed across Arkansas, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Alabama by the severe weather that inundated the center of the continent over Memorial Day weekend, turning for many what is normally a relaxed holiday into an occasion for tragedy. The farmer who was killed in Colorado died alongside 34 of his cows, as all were within the death zone of a large lightning strike. The rest of the week, too, saw an outlook of more flash flooding and strong thunderstorms across Texas.
The deep south, meanwhile, having dodged most of the excitement, hunkered down under a sweltering high-humidity heat wave which set record highs. Relative to its neighbors too the west, the East Coast states are getting off relatively light with moderate rains and light thunderstorms blanketing the area over the same time frame.
May 26 was the most eventful day for severe weather in the United States so far this year. Over six hundred reports of severe damage from the storms were filed across twenty states. Buildings were leveled by the heavy winds and funnel clouds, cars went flying, and power poles came crashing to the ground. Severe lightning and rain forced the four-hour delay of the Indianapolis 500 race as all 125,000 spectators had to be evacuated for the worst of the storm.
President Joe Biden called each of the governors whose states were effected and officially offered federal assistance. Kentucky Governor Andy Bashear has declared an official state of emergency. The declaration cites the devastating storms that hit nearly the whole state.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot said in his disaster declaration that a third of Texas’s counties were hit by the extreme weather. The state’s seven deaths all occurred when a tornado struck the northern town of Valley View .
