Texas reeled from rare December tornados on Monday, as days of storms battering a vast region stretching from the southwestern US to Canada claimed at least 43 lives.
Texas reeled from rare December tornados on Monday, as days of storms battering a vast region stretching from the southwestern US to Canada claimed at least 43 lives.
Hundreds of flights across the area have been canceled, and with portions of major highways flooded or snowed under, the storm system is wreaking holiday travel havoc for millions of Americans.
The National Weather Service is warning of blizzards, freezing rain and flash floods in the next days, all part of a powerful storm system fueled by unseasonably warm air that began in the deep south last Wednesday.
The NWS said Monday that 21 states — from New Mexico to as far north as Michigan — are under a weather watch or warning.
The governors of New Mexico, Texas and Missouri declared states of emergency for all or parts of their states to handle storm damage on Sunday. Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia earlier took similar measures.
At least 11 people were killed as tornadoes struck the heavily populated Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas, according to authorities who searched house-to-house Sunday for additional victims.
The rare December twisters flattened homes, knocked cars off of highways and flipped big-rig trucks like toys. The NWS said that at least nine twisters touched down in the region late Saturday.
Hardest-hit was Garland in Dallas, where authorities confirmed eight fatalities. Some 600 buildings were damaged or destroyed, officials said.
State governor Greg Abbott told reporters that snow and ice was causing power outages in northwest Texas, while central Texas was facing flood risks.
