Millions of people in Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, Nebraska and Oklahoma are bracing for dangerous conditions as forecasters warn of possible tornadoes, 80-mph wind gusts, flooding and hail as the extreme weather outbreak rolls into its sixth week.
About 18 million people are at risk for severe storms Monday night across the Central Plains in areas like North Texas and South Dakota and eastbound into Illinois.
The cities most at risk include Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Wichita, Kansas; Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; Wichita Falls, Texas; and Des Moines, Iowa.
The severe storm risk extends to 25 million people across the Midwest, the Ohio Valley and the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday.
By Monday night, multiple tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service, which located at least some of them in Oklahoma’s Garfield and Blaine counties, and in Smithville, Tennessee.
Jim Shelton, director of the Blaine County Office of Emergency Management, said no injuries or deaths were reported after a tornado touched down in Okeene. Some outbuildings — garages, sheds and the like — were damaged, and one home was struck by lightning, he said by email.
The NWS on Monday night issued a rare tornado emergency statement for the area of Osage, Oklahoma, about 38 miles west of Tulsa. “A large, extremely dangerous and potentially deadly tornado is on the ground,” it said.
After a week of heavy flooding that included rescue crews pulling hundreds of people to safety, the Southeastern part of Texas is underwater.
In recent days, the weather has been problematic in parts of Texas, including the Houston area, where there were more than 500 rescues and evacuations in a matter of days.
On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott said severe weather was to blame for at least three deaths in Texas: those of a 5-year-old boy swept away by floodwaters in Johnson County early Sunday; Lt. James “Jimmy” Waller, a Conroe police officer whose home was hit in the April 28 tornado in Trinity County; and a man, not identified, who was also swept away by stormwater in Bosque County in recent days. Details about the latter death were unavailable.
“It is heart-wrenching to see our fellow Texans being literally inundated with record water fall,” Abbott said at a news conference Monday.The child was with his mother and her husband when the vehicle they were in became immobile in swift water, the Johnson County Office of Emergency Management said in a statement. The three searched for dry ground, but the child became separated and was found dead more than two hours after the man and the woman were rescued, the office said.
Abbott put the impact of the weather in numbers: Fewer than 7,000 utility customers remained without power after a weekend peak of about 160,000 in the dark, roughly 800 homes have been damaged, 43 locations on state roads remained closed because of high water, and 14 state road locations are shuttered as a result of storm damage.
“Damage to structures is catastrophic,” he said.
In Houston, conditions remained hazardous, as police had to use jet skis to pull another man and three dogs out of nearly 8 feet of water. An official told NBC News that recovery will prove taxing with homes and cars flooded by the rain.
“For these people, it’s very difficult. These people might not be back in their homes for a year or two,” the official said.
Throughout last week, areas northeast of Houston got more than 23 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Meanwhile, areas in northeastern Harris County got 6 to 17 inches in the same period.
Dennis Romero and Courtney Brogle contributed.