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Express Tribune
21-04-2025
- Climate
- Express Tribune
Deadly storm system lashes Texas and Oklahoma with hail and tornadoes
Listen to article A slow-moving storm system battered parts of Texas and Oklahoma over Easter weekend, leaving three people dead and triggering dozens of severe weather alerts across the south-central and Midwest United States. The system, active since Saturday, brought large hail, flash floods, and tornadoes across the region, with 17 reported tornado events, according to Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. Five of those tornadoes were confirmed in south-central Oklahoma, including one that struck a small town still recovering from a March storm. Heavy rainfall swept across north-central Texas and eastern Oklahoma, with 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimetres) falling in many areas. In Moore, a suburb south of Oklahoma City, police received dozens of reports of vehicles stranded in floodwaters. One car was swept under a bridge Saturday evening. Authorities later recovered the dead bodies of a woman and a 12-year-old boy. Oravec said the storm remained nearly stationary over the weekend, intensifying local impacts with continuous thunderstorm activity. In Oklahoma Marshall county's emergency management director Bill Macon reported that a tornado cut a jagged 6 to 7-mile path through rural areas, damaging at least 20 homes and toppling trees and power lines. 'It skipped and jumped around. Some houses were completely destroyed.' Despite the destruction, no injuries or fatalities were reported there, said Bill Macon . Ada, a town of 16,000 residents still rebuilding from a March tornado, was struck again Saturday night. Preliminary surveys indicate at least an EF1 tornado hit the north side of town, ripping roofs off buildings and shattering windows. In a video shared on Facebook, Jason Keck, Ada's emergency management director, said the tornado appeared to move across the northern part of the town toward a shopping centre, causing extensive damage to buildings, trees, and power lines. According to the media, a clothing store was 'severely damaged' but stood between two buildings that remained largely intact. Meanwhile, officials in Texas reported that at least two tornadoes touched down in west Parker County on Saturday. Photos posted by emergency services showed roofs ripped off homes and debris scattered across properties. In one case, a detached roof was observed smashed across a driveway. By late Sunday, the storm system had begun tracking more quickly to the northeast but remained dangerous. Forecasters warned of ongoing threats from hail, strong winds, and heavy rainfall across Arkansas, Missouri, southern Illinois and southeastern Iowa. Thousands of residents in Missouri were left without electricity. Although rainfall had begun to ease in parts of Texas and Oklahoma by Sunday afternoon, more heavy rain is expected in the central Plains later this week, said Oravec. With saturated ground and swollen waterways, the risk of renewed flooding remains high.
Los Angeles Times
20-04-2025
- Climate
- Los Angeles Times
At least 2 dead in Oklahoma flooding as region remains under severe weather watch
MOORE, Okla. — A woman and a child have died in Oklahoma flooding as meteorologists warned Sunday of further flooding, thunderstorms and tornadoes from the Midwest to the South. Police in Moore, about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, received dozens of reports of 'high-water incidents' over the weekend, including two cars stranded in floodwaters Saturday evening. One car was swept away under a bridge, and police said they were able to rescue some people, but a woman and 12-year-old boy were found dead. 'This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city,' the Moore Police Department said in a statement Sunday. Moore has about 63,000 people. The National Weather Service issued flooding and severe thunderstorm warnings in large swaths of Oklahoma as well as portions of Texas, Missouri, Arkansas and southern Illinois amid a storm system from the southern Plains to the Upper Midwest. Meteorologists predicted heavy rainfall and potential tornadoes in Arkansas and Missouri. On Easter Sunday, communities were beginning to assess the damage wreaked by several confirmed tornadoes throughout south-central and southeast Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service. A few thousand customers were without power Sunday morning. Bill Macon, Marshall County emergency management director, said his agency's early assessments show a tornado 'skipped and jumped around' over a path of six to seven miles in the rural area that left at least 20 homes damaged, some destroyed. Macon said people were mostly home when the late-night tornado came through, downing huge trees, dozens of electric poles and power lines, but there had not been reports of injuries or fatalities. 'We take those things pretty serious down here in Oklahoma,' Macon said of the weather service warnings. One Oklahoma town that was still recovering from an early March tornado saw one come through late Saturday. The north side of Ada, home to about 16,000 people, sustained damage that the National Weather Service said was at least an EF1 tornado based on a preliminary survey. In a video posted to Facebook, Jason Keck, Ada director of emergency management, said the tornado seemed to track across the north side of town toward the North Hills Shopping Center, 'leaving a lot of damage to buildings, power lines and trees.'
