Severe storms brought heavy rain Monday to parts of the eastern United States, as central states cleaned up devastation from the same storm system that killed at least 22 people and injured hundreds more.
Homes in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma were destroyed, and tens of thousands of residents lost power through the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
President Joe Biden said late Monday he and his wife, Jill, were “praying for those who tragically lost their lives as a result of devastating tornadoes that tore through Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.”
Seven people, including two children, died in Cooke County, Texas after a tornado ripped through a rural area near a mobile home park, according to the county sheriff. The children were ages two and five.
In Arkansas, eight people died statewide, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a Sunday news conference.
Five people died in Kentucky and two in Mayes County, Oklahoma, according to local officials. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday declared a state of emergency.
“We will be there for our Kentucky communities until they've fully recovered. We're in this together,” Beshear said on X.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said about 100 people were injured and more than 200 homes and buildings were demolished. He made a disaster declaration for at least 108 counties in Texas on Sunday.
“The hopes and dreams of Texas families and small businesses have literally been crushed by storm after storm,” Abbott said.
A storm in Houston, one of the largest cities in the U.S., killed eight people in mid-May, part of a series of deadly weather conditions causing destruction across the nation this month.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
