18 dead after deadly tornadoes hit central US; millions face severe weather threats

NEW DELHI: Eighteen people, including four children, lost their lives due to deadly tornadoes in the central United States, while millions more continue to face severe weather threats, as reported by CNN.

Over 109 million people across vast areas of the US on Sunday were under the threat of large hail, damaging winds, and fierce twisters, primarily throughout the mid-Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee River valleys. As the storms moved eastward, the Storm Prediction Centre cautioned, "violent tornadoes, extreme hail and corridors of widespread wind damage."

The watch, which impacts 4.7 million people, encompasses parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee, including St. Louis and Jefferson City in Missouri, Paducah in Kentucky, and Carbondale in Illinois. At least 11 tornado reports were recorded on Sunday, and more severe weather is anticipated on Memorial Day.

More than 120 million people are at risk of severe weather, primarily concentrated along the East Coast, south of New England, where there is a level 2 out of 5 threat. The storms that swept through Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky on Sunday continue to move east, posing ongoing threats.

According to the reports, the projected storms have the potential to produce severe tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds.

In the aftermath of the deadly storms and tornadoes that struck late Sunday night, hundreds of thousands of people across 13 states are without power.

According to power outage.us, as reported by CNN, more than 642,000 people are currently in the dark, with the majority of the power outages occurring in Kentucky, where nearly 135,000 customers are without power.

The National Weather Service has issued a special kind of tornado watch, which is only released when there is an unusually high confidence in the potential for multiple EF2-strength or stronger, long-lived tornadoes in the area.

The Storm Prediction Centre said, "Intense supercell thunderstorms will continue to develop across the watch area through this evening. Several tornadoes are likely, some of which are expected to be intense. Very large hail is also likely, along with the risk for potentially significant damaging wind gusts."