An intense storm system moving across the country left devastation and heartbreak in several states Saturday, with many homes destroyed by tornadoes in the South and Midwest and by wildfires in Oklahoma. More than a dozen people were killed.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a news conference that nearly 300 homes and other structures were destroyed in his state. Much of the damage was in and around the city of Stillwater, home to Oklahoma State University.
He described visiting neighborhoods where just a few houses had been spared, while the rest were reduced to rubble. He added, almost as an aside, that his family had lost a farmhouse, near the town of Luther.
Firefighting crews were scrambling to keep up with all the blazes popping up across the state. They had been hampered Friday by poor conditions, which had grounded aerial firefighting tools, including the “super scooper” planes that can drop thousands of gallons of water onto a blaze. About 170,000 acres had burned in the state, the governor said Saturday.
He reported one death related to the fires, from a car accident. Four people died in neighboring Texas on Friday from car crashes amid a massive dust storm kicked up by the same weather system.
In Missouri, that system spawned tornadoes that killed at least 12 people, the State Highway Patrol reported. Three people were killed in Arkansas, according to the state’s Division of Emergency Management. The state experienced extensive storm damage, the agency said.
By midafternoon Saturday, severe storms were pounding parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, destroying properties, taking down power lines and turning communities into debris fields. The National Weather Service reported that tornadoes touched down in or near Kentwood, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Pike County, Mississippi; and Tuscaloosa County, Alabama; and other places.
The storms were expected to sweep into Tennessee and cross into Georgia and northern Florida overnight. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also warned of excessive rainfall and flash flooding in the Southeast. There is a slight risk of severe storms and tornadoes Sunday from northern Florida to Washington, D.C., before the system moves offshore Monday.
More than 200,000 customers were without power Saturday evening in several states from Texas to Michigan, according to poweroutage.us.
The system of turbulent weather slammed into California earlier in the week, unleashing rain, snow and a tornado in Los Angeles. The strong system was driving gusty winds and dry air across a parched landscape, fueling the dangerous fire conditions.
As the system moved toward the middle of the country, the weather service issued the highest risk alert for tornadoes in some parts of the South. Storms at this level of alert can often produce intense long-track tornadoes, which stay on the ground for an extended period of time.
Tornadoes typically occur across the South from the middle of March until late April, when the risk shifts to the Plains.
Because of the wildfires, Oklahoma State University canceled baseball, softball and tennis events that had been scheduled for Saturday. Early Saturday, mandatory evacuation orders were lifted in parts of the city, allowing some residents to return home.
The fires were fueled by low humidity, dry vegetation and hurricane-force winds, creating dystopian landscapes of orange skies, downed utility lines and homes reduced to piles of sticks — an eerie echo of scenes from Los Angeles just two months ago.
Two retired sisters, Sharon Riley and Dina Shellhammer, fled their home in Stillwater on Friday after watching the flames approach. On Saturday morning, they were not sure if the house still stood but were prepared for the worst, having heard that a nearby neighborhood had been devastated.
After spending the night in an evacuation shelter, the sisters were mentally running through the personal items they had left behind.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we realized later we should have gotten, like the insurance policy or birth certificates,” said Shellhammer, 77.
Charles Wyrick, who was staying at a shelter in Stillwater with his wife, Geraldine, said his entire community of 12 trailer homes in Wellston, south of Stillwater, had most likely been destroyed by fire Friday, alongside many of his most prized possessions: his second truck, a pontoon boat, three trailers and a tractor.
“It got everything,” his wife said.
The couple had first sensed the danger when they realized there was no power or water. Shortly after, voices rang out through the neighborhood: It was time to get out; fires were near.
As they scrambled into their Chevy Tahoe with their poodle, Buddy, they realized a neighboring family of five did not have a working vehicle. They, too, piled into the Tahoe, along with five more dogs.
In the chaos, there was no time to salvage any personal belongings.
Thousands of athletes had also come to Stillwater for a weekend of distance running and bike races called the Mid South. All the events were canceled.
On Saturday, many visitors remained in town, packing into local restaurants for breakfast. “There are still sirens going,” said Josh McCullock, creative director for the event. “It’s ironic, because it’s a beautiful day outside today. But when you get out to the outskirts of town, there’s a lot of devastation.”
Oklahoma Forestry Services reported that risk from the fires would reduce over the weekend. But the agency warned that fires could reoccur Monday through Wednesday because of expected weather changes.
In Missouri, Terry Pierce of Williamsville said that he had huddled with his wife and children in his basement during the worst of the storm. He said he had heard a tornado touch down in nearby Mill Spring. “It sounded like a train was coming through here,” he said.
Pierce, a manager of Big Whiskey’s American Restaurant & Bar in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said his restaurant was delivering box lunches to police officers, power company workers and anyone who needed assistance.
Robbie Myers, the director of Butler County Emergency Management in Missouri, said at least one person had died after getting trapped in a house on a country road near Poplar Bluff. A mobile home park, church and grocery store in town had also been damaged, he said.
“It was a very devastating scene where the mobile home park was,” said Myers, who added that several people had been taken to the hospital with injuries.
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