Severe storms kill 11 in southern US
HOUSTON — Severe storms sweeping across southern portions of the US and up into the Midwest were blamed on Saturday in the deaths of at least 11 people, including two first responders, as high winds, tornadoes and unrelenting rain battered large swaths of the country.
Storm-related fatalities were reported in Texas because of icy weather, in Alabama from a deadly tornado and in Louisiana, where winds were so strong that a trailer home was lifted off its foundation and carried several hundred feet. A man drowned in Oklahoma and the storms even touched the Midwest with at least one death on an icy highway in Iowa. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power from Texas to Ohio, parts of highways were closed in Oklahoma and Arkansas because of flooding and hundreds of flights were cancelled at Chicago’s international airports.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson declared a state of emergency to assist crew members working to restore power around the state.
Two first responders were killed and another was critically injured in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday morning after they were hit by a vehicle while working the scene of a traffic accident in icy conditions, officials said.
Police Officer Nicholas Reyna, 27, who had been with the department for one year, died at the scene. Firefighter Lt David Hill, 39, was taken to a local hospital where he later died. Firefighter Matthew Dawson, 30, was hospitalised in critical condition.
Lubbock Police chief Floyd Mitchell called it an “extremely tragic day” for the city.
“If people would respect road conditions, things like this wouldn’t have to happen,” said Lubbock Fire chief Shaun Fogerson.
Another person had died in Texas on Friday night when a car flipped into a creek in Dallas as severe thunderstorms passed through. Lightning from Friday’s stormy weather was suspected of causing fires that burned two houses but caused no injuries in the North Texas cities of Burleson and Mansfield.
A man drowned near Kiowa, Oklahoma, after he was swept away in floodwaters, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Saturday. Randall Hyatt, 58, of Wardville, was overwhelmed by rushing water while getting out of his stalled truck.
The Iowa State Patrol said roads were caked with ice early on Saturday when a semitrailer on Interstate 80 overturned, killing a passenger in the truck east of Iowa City.