At least 68 million people are under severe weather warnings today, Memorial Day, as the storm killed at least 20 people and knocked out power to half a million homes and businesses across the central United States before moving toward the Northeast.
The severe storms will move across Arkansas and Tennessee into the Ohio Valley before moving north toward the East Coast through the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and New York. Heavy rain, winds of more than 60 mph and hail larger than 2 inches in diameter are expected, and tornadoes are also possible, NBC forecaster Michelle Grossman said in a report early Monday.
Flood warnings were issued for 9 million people, mostly in Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Indiana.
The bad weather also spread to Colorado, where a rancher and 34 of his cattle were killed by lightning near the town of Rand, 80 miles northwest of Denver, according to the Jackson County coroner. Police said Mike Morgan, 51, was feeding his cattle from a trailer when the lightning struck him in an open pasture. The remaining 100 cattle were unharmed.
As of 9:30 a.m. ET, more than 460,000 homes and businesses were without power in the affected areas, including more than 182,000 in Kentucky, according to the power tracking website PowerOutage.us. More than 80,000 were without power in Alabama, the website said.
Kentucky State Police said some emergency phone lines were damaged and out of service, according to NBC affiliate WNKY in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
“It’s been a tough night for our residents,” Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, posted on Facebook Monday morning. Three weather-related deaths have already been reported in the state, including one in Louisville, according to the mayor, and one in Mercer County, according to the county’s emergency management director.
Monday’s weather warnings came after a weekend of extreme heat across southern states and the Great Plains. Eight people were reported dead in Arkansas, seven in Texas, two in Oklahoma and two in Kentucky. The deaths were attributed to weather-related incidents, including falling trees.
Tornadoes were spotted across the region. Images from Valley View, Texas, a small farming town about 55 miles north of Fort Worth, showed homes and vehicles obliterated. Weather watchers posted photos of huge, ominous funnel clouds and golf-ball-sized hail from Missouri and Kentucky.
The National Weather Service plans to send at least two teams to assess the damage across Kentucky, a task that will take several days, and states of emergency have been declared in at least five Kentucky counties and parts of Arkansas.
Extreme heat warnings have been issued for South and Central Texas as a cold front moves north, with temperatures likely to soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, setting a new daily record.
The National Weather Service forecast said the heat index, a measure of how hot it feels, could reach a dangerous 120 degrees in Florida, with Key West, Florida, and surrounding areas also expected to experience similarly hot weather.
