42 dead in a series of tornadoes and storms in seven US states - 140 mph / 225 kmph peak winds
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Over the weekend, a series of devastating tornadoes swept across multiple states in the U.S., causing devastating destruction. At least 42 people lost their lives as the storms swept through communities from the Midwest to the South.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons License. This photo is not from the tornadoes in this article.
F5 tornado (upgraded from initial estimate of F4) viewed from the southeast as it approached Elie, Manitoba on Friday, June 22nd, 2007.
Photo by Justin1569 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5943918
According to NBC News, 8 million people were under winter storm watches and warnings on Monday, although the severity of the storms had reportedly lessened since the weekend.
"I am heartbroken to learn that two children were killed over the weekend due to severe weather. May their memories be a blessing," North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein wrote in a Monday post on X.
Fatalities were reported across seven states: Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, and Missouri. In Missouri alone, the storms claimed 12 lives, including three who perished on Friday night when an EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 140 mph / 225 kmph tore through Bakersfield, according to the National Weather Service's statement on Saturday.
CBS News has a list of the places with the largest amount of casualties and how they occurred.
More than 337,000 power outages were recorded nationwide on Sunday afternoon, with nearly 41,000 of those occurring in Missouri, as reported by USA TODAY's outage tracker.
According to the Associated Press, there were 46 tornadoes on Friday and 41 on Saturday, based on a preliminary count. The storm also reportedly fanned more than 130 wind-driven wildfires in Oklahoma. Dozens of fires were still burning across the state on Monday, according to Keith Merckx at Oklahoma Forestry Services.
USA today writes that since Friday March 14, the Storm Prediction Center has recorded 75 preliminary reports of tornadoes spanning seven states. The National Weather Service says it is actively verifying these reports to determine the confirmed total number of tornadoes.
According to USA Today, the National Guard has been mobilized as residents across the United States start to evaluate the aftermath of the weekend storms.
Across the United States, over 130,000 power outages were still reported on Monday morning, as per USA TODAY's outage tracker. Missouri alone accounted for more than 25,000 outages, following a devastating EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 140 mph on Saturday, claimed 12 lives or more.