Official reports indicate that the number of fatalities from storms that swept through parts of the US South and Midwest over the weekend has increased by three to 32. More severe weather is predicted for Monday and Tuesday.
Since the storms began unleashing tornadoes, strong winds, and flooding on Friday, Tennessee, one of the hardest-hit states, has reported 12 weather-related fatalities as of Sunday. Later, that number was increased to 15.
The Tennessee tornado ripped trees, reduced homes to piles of wooden planks, and overturned cars, leaving scenes of devastation in its wake.
Tennessee’s death toll was added to the 17 deaths reported in the US South (Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama), the Midwest (Indiana and Illinois), and the mid-Atlantic state of Delaware.
Although several million Americans are currently under high wind watches or warnings, meteorologists and officials issued a warning to communities on Monday just as people were starting to pick up the pieces. They advised residents to be on high alert for new bands of thunderstorms and potential tornadoes in the area.
On Tuesday, April 4, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency predicted “an extra wave of severe weather.”
The National Weather Service predicts one to three feet (30 to 90 centimetres) of snow in some areas of Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado as well as blizzard conditions in the northern plains states, including the Dakotas.
One week after a tornado wreaked havoc on the Mississippi village of Rolling Fork, killing at least 25 people, US President Joe Biden paid a visit there on Friday.
