The city of Sulfur in south-central Oklahoma was especially hard hit with dozens of buildings destroyedReproduction / Internet
Published 04/28/2024 22:15
An exceptional number of tornadoes swept through parts of Oklahoma and other states near the Great Plains in the central United States, leaving at least five people dead, authorities and local media reported. Thousands of homes were without electricity this Sunday (28).
After the 78 tornadoes recorded on Friday, mainly in Iowa and Nebraska, on Saturday another 35 were recorded from north Texas to Missouri, according to the United States Weather Service (NWS).
The storms dumped up to 180mm of rain in some locations in a matter of hours and forecasters warned of a persistent risk of extreme weather this Sunday, including flash floods, hail and new tornadoes.
The city of Sulfur, in south-central Oklahoma, was especially affected in the last hour on Saturday, according to videos and photos posted on social media, which show dozens of destroyed buildings.
In this small town, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt confirmed, this Sunday, the deaths of four people across the state.
The damage in Sulphur, where a woman died when the tornado passed through overnight, was the worst he had seen in his six years in office, Stitt said during a news conference.
“It looks like every business downtown was destroyed,” he said. “Thank God… There weren’t many people here at half past ten at night,” she added.
At least two of those killed in Oklahoma lost their lives in the city of Holdenville, the Department of Emergency Management (OEM) reported. The local press reported that the victims included a four-month-old baby.
The OEM said a fourth person died on a highway in Marietta, in southern Oklahoma, where videos published by the local press showed damaged cars along a road and affected infrastructure.
According to the NWS, a preliminary investigation confirmed that the tornadoes in Sulfur and Marietta were at least EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale – which goes up to five – which means gusts exceeding 218 km/h.
Governor Stitt declared a 30-day state of emergency to expedite aid to 12 of the hardest-hit counties.
Additionally, in Iowa, a man who was injured in a tornado on Friday later died at the hospital, his family told KETV NewsWatch 7.
More than 25,000 homes in Texas and about 19,000 in Oklahoma were without electricity as of Sunday afternoon, according to the website PowerOutage.
Tornadoes, meteorological phenomena that are as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are relatively common in the United States, particularly in the central and southern parts of the country.
However, according to meteorologists, the formation of a succession of large tornadoes is very rare.
