US residents begin recovery after storms that killed 11 in Midwest and South
- National Weather Service says extreme weather was a tornado, causing winds of at least 134mph
Thousands remained without electrical power Sunday morning after weekend storms ravaged parts of the Southeast and Midwest, causing 11 deaths, overturning cars, uprooting trees and reducing buildings to rubble.
The National Weather Service says it was a tornado packing winds of at least 134mph (215kph) that hit Alabama’s Pickens County on Saturday, killing three. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey praised the state’s first responders Sunday in a statement expressing grief over the loss of life.
“This morning, I have reached out to both the county leadership as well as the legislative delegation to offer my deepest condolences in this terrible loss of life,” Ivey’s statement said.
In northwestern Louisiana, three deaths were blamed on high winds. A man in his bed in Oil City, Louisiana, was crushed to death by a tree that fell on his home early Saturday. A couple in nearby Bossier Parish were killed when the storms demolished their mobile home. The National Weather Service said a tornado with 135mph winds hit the area.
Icy road conditions were blamed for Saturday deaths in Lubbock, Texas, where two first responders were killed when they were hit by a vehicle at the scene of a traffic accident; and in Iowa, where a semi-trailer on Interstate 80 overturned, killing a passenger.