A relentless stretch of severe weather that left 28 dead and unleashed destruction across the central and eastern United States in recent days isn’t letting up yet, with millions more in the path of dangerous weather this week.
Monday’s level 4-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms in the Plains marks the third day out of the last four to hit this rare level – one typically issued on about 10 days each year. All severe thunderstorm hazards are expected– including tornadoes that could reach EF3 strength or greater.
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, are within the most concerning risk area Monday, but Dallas, Kansas City and St. Louis, including areas devastated on Friday, could also be in the path of dangerous storms.
Here’s the latest:
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Deadly weather: Violent storms have killed at least 28 people in three states since Friday: 19 in Kentucky, seven in Missouri – including five in St. Louis – and two in Virginia. There have been at least 1,500 reports to the SPC of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes in the days of storms since Wednesday.
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Rare tornado emergencies: The National Weather Service issued the most extreme tornado warning it has at its disposal on Friday and issued two more on Sunday night. Friday’s covered southern Illinois’ Williamson County, where an EF4 tornado roared through and injured at least seven people. Greensburg and Plevna, Kansas, were caught in Sunday night’s tornado emergencies as “large and destructive” tornadoes tracked through or close to each area.
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More danger to come: Tens of millions of people in the central US are at risk of severe thunderstorms on Monday, including more than 17 million people from Texas to Kansas and Missouri who could be in the path of strong tornadoes – defined as EF2 or stronger. More than 6 million people are under that same tornado risk on Tuesday as severe weather shifts east.
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Storms developing: A few clusters of severe thunderstorms fired up early Monday afternoon in eastern Oklahoma and northeast Texas. These storms pose a risk of damaging winds, hail and tornadoes, but it’s the storms that will develop later this afternoon that carry the greatest tornado threat.
Significant tornado risk forecast once again
Multiple rounds of severe weather will target the Plains on Monday, bringing the threat of damaging wind gusts stronger than 80 mph, hail bigger than softballs and strong or intense – greater than EF3 –tornadoes.
“Everyone needs to stay weather aware today/tonight and have a plan in place in case you need to shelter,” the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, urged.
A level 4-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms is centered on more than 5 million people in the eastern half of Oklahoma – including Oklahoma City – and portions of surrounding states on Monday, according to the SPC. A larger level 3-of-5 risk includes more than 12 million people elsewhere in the Plains and Mississippi Valley.
The most dangerous activity in Kansas and Oklahoma is expected to begin later Monday afternoon and push east into the Mississippi Valley overnight, but a few damaging storms rumbled to life in the early afternoon in northern Texas and southern and eastern Oklahoma. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex could potentially see damaging storms this afternoon.
The greatest risk of tornadoes will start when storms first fire up in the late afternoon and continue through the evening, with the SPC warning of long-lived supercells – rotating thunderstorms capable of producing violent impacts – that could travel large distances. Oklahoma is at the greatest threat for these storms, but they’re also possible in surrounding states.
A dangerous flash flooding threat will also build just east of where the strongest thunderstorms are set to strike.
A level 3-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall is in place for parts of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, according to the Weather Prediction Center. These areas have been soaked in recent weeks, so any additional heavy rain could produce “numerous flash floods.”
The severe weather threat will shift east on Tuesday, targeting parts of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys — including areas that have already been hit hard by this spring’s storms, like western Kentucky and western Tennessee.
Damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes are once again possible within any storm on Tuesday. Some areas, especially parts of the Ohio Valley, could start the day with lingering severe storms from Monday night.
Additional storms are likely to develop Tuesday afternoon in the Mississippi Valley and push east through the evening.
Multiple tornadoes hit Kansas Sunday
Tornadoes tore through Kansas on Sunday night, prompting two tornado emergencies in the central part of the state: one for Plevna and one for Greensburg.
In Plevna, roughly 60 miles from Wichita, Reno County Sheriff Darrian Campbell said a passing tornado Sunday night caused significant damage to homes.
It was a close call for Greensburg, but the city made it through the night relatively unscathed, CNN affiliate KWCH reported. That wasn’t the case elsewhere in the state.
A “large and extremely dangerous tornado” roared through Grinnell in northwestern Kansas on Sunday evening, according to the NWS.
Photos from the town show debris scattered everywhere, with severely damaged homes, blocked roads and overturned vehicles. One image shows a local church with its roof blown off.
About 20 homes were destroyed in Grinnell, which is home to fewer than 300 people, according to Gove County Sheriff Shawn Mesch.
“Essentially the entire west of Grinnell was destroyed,” Mesch told CNN Monday. But despite the level of destruction, there have been no reports of injuries: “It’s insane that nobody was hurt,” he said.
Midwest Energy reported the tornado caused damage to both electric and gas systems in the Grinnell area, according KWCH.
Until Sunday night, Kansas had largely avoided tornadoes this spring, which is unusual for the state. May is the peak of tornado season for the US, with much of that activity typically centered in the Plains.
Five consecutive days of damaging storms
Ferocious storms have carved through hundreds of miles of the US in recent days, generating more than 1,500 reports of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes since Wednesday.
About 100 of those reports were tornadoes. National Weather Service storm survey teams are still picking through extensive damage to determine exactly how many tornadoes tore through the central and eastern US since last week, but they’ve already found at least three EF3 tornadoes and one EF4.
The EF4 tornado tore through Williamson County in southern Illinois on Friday, injuring at least seven people as it damaged homes and obliterated trees.
An EF3 tornado rocked the St. Louis area Friday, according to the NWS, reaching its peak intensity as it stretched a mile wide over the north side of the city. The tornado killed at least five people and injured dozens, while also “damaging or destroying thousands of buildings.”
Storms also left vast destruction behind in Laurel County, Kentucky, with 17 deaths reported there over the weekend. The city of London, about 75 miles south of Lexington, was hit particularly hard.
Police in Corbin, south of London, were responding to mutual aid calls for tornado victims and described the devastation as overwhelming.
“Stop and pray for Laurel County residents and victims of the tornado that touched down there,” the department wrote.
CNN’s Hanna Park, Karina Tsui, Matt Rehbein, Ray Sanchez and Andy Rose contributed to this report.