Powerful storms across Texas and Oklahoma in the United States obliterated homes and struck a highway travel center where drivers had rushed to take shelter, leaving thousands of people without power and a wide trail of damage on Sunday, May 26. A sheriff said at least five people were dead in one rural community in Texas and many more were injured.
The destructive storms began Saturday night and included a tornado that overturned heavy recreational vehicles and shut down an interstate near Dallas. Officials said multiple people were transported to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter in the Texas county of Denton, but did not immediately know the full extent of injuries.
In neighboring Cooke County, Sheriff Ray Sappington told AP that the five dead included three family members who were found in one home near Valley View, a rural community near the border with Oklahoma. Forecasters had issued tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings for parts of both states, as some heat records were broken during the day in South Texas and residents received triple-digit temperature warnings over the long holiday weekend.
A tornado crossed into northern Denton County in Texas late Saturday and overturned tractor-trailer trucks, stopping traffic on Interstate 35, Denton County Community Relations Director Dawn Cobb said in a statement. The tornado was confirmed near Valley View, moving east at 40 mph (64 kph), prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for northern Denton County, Cobb said.
People who suffered injuries in the storm were transported to area hospitals by ground and air ambulances, but the number of injuries in the county was not immediately known, Cobb said.
The Claremore, Oklahoma, police announced on social media that the city about 28 miles (45 kilometers) east of Tulsa was "shut down" as a result of storm damage including downed power lines and trees and inaccessible roads.
The weather service office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, warned on X of a dangerous storm moving across the northeast part of the state through 2 am and issued severe thunderstorm notices for communities including Hugo, Boswell, Fort Towson, Grainola, Foraker and Herd.
The storm system causing the severe weather was expected to move east as the Memorial Day weekend continues, bringing rain in Indiana and more severe storms in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky. The risk of severe weather moves into North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, forecasters said.