One devastating storm system: What to know about the havoc

Rain, snow, hail, dust, fire, tornadoes. A giant cross-country storm system last week led to one hazard after another, lashing California with an atmospheric river, fueling wildfires in Oklahoma and spawning tornadoes from Missouri to Alabama.

A part of Texas felt like Mars. Huge stretches of communities across the Midwest and South were reduced to rubble. A governor lost a farmhouse to fire. And the area near a tiny town in Mississippi was struck by a tornado twice.

Since Friday, at least 40 deaths across seven states have been attributed to the storm. On Monday, the storm system is expected to move offshore, but more than 40 million people in the United States, mostly in the Plains, were under a red flag warning, indicating an increased risk of fire danger, according to the National Weather Service.

Here are a few things to know about the storm system and its impact.

Almost 100 tornadoes reported

That number was reported by the Storm Prediction Center, although it may change. Overall, tornadoes and severe storms have killed at least 24 people across four states — Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi. Missouri has had the highest number of fatalities, 12.

Across the region, homes were leveled, with huge debris fields in their wake. In Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in the southeastern corner of the state, more than 500 homes were destroyed. Alabama, where two people died, reported damage in 52 of the state’s 67 counties.

In Mississippi, the area near Tylertown, which is near the border with Louisiana and has a population of about 1,500, was hit by tornadoes in two separate instances Saturday.

The full extent of the damage across the region may not be known for days.

Tornadoes typically occur across the South at this time of year. Long-lasting tornadoes, which are rarer, had been forecast last week, and on Sunday meteorologists were assessing the recent series of them. Emily Thornton, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center, called it “a high-end severe event.”

In terms of the number of tornadoes, this outbreak was not an outlier. The most recent outbreak in the United States was on March 31 and April 1, 2023, when 146 tornadoes caused 26 deaths, according to William Bunting, deputy director of the Storm Prediction Center.

The winds accelerated wildfires

As a separate storm system rolls in, critical fire conditions are expected to return Monday and Tuesday, with strong winds predicted across eastern New Mexico, central and western Texas, western Oklahoma and southeastern Colorado.

As gusty winds and dry air teamed up Monday to heighten the risk of fires, emergency management officials in Oklahoma urged residents to avoid activities that could spark fires, especially in the western part of the state.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management said wildfire danger was forecast across the western half of the state through the week.

In Kansas, authorities said a large portion of the state was under a red flag warning Monday.

Hurricane-force winds had fanned wildfires that spread rapidly in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas over the weekend.

The worst damage was in Oklahoma, where more than 400 homes and other structures were destroyed. At least four people have died in the state from the fires or high winds, and 142 people have been injured, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Sunday.

In Stillwater, a city of about 50,000 that is home to Oklahoma State University, dozens of homes burned. Gov. Kevin Stitt was among the victims — he shared video of a farmhouse he owned in Luther, outside of Oklahoma City, in ruins.

Oklahoma residents deal with the threat of tornadoes all the time. But for many, encountering wildfires was a whole new experience.

J. Bryson Baker, 39, has spent his entire life in Stillwater. He had never fled a fire, until Friday. His family evacuated from their home in southwestern Stillwater to stay with relatives in Oklahoma City.

When he returned at nightfall, he said he saw flames 60 feet tall, emitting so much heat that he didn’t know how firefighters could stand it. The blaze destroyed his backyard fence and part of his backyard. His one-story brick home was untouched. But other homes were in rubble.

Dust storms led to 12 traffic deaths

The fierce winds also produced dust storms in Texas and Kansas that killed at least 12 people. In the region around Lubbock and Amarillo in Texas, officials reported more than three dozen car crashes, killing at least four people.

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