A possible tornado wreaked havoc on a school and several homes in Pennsylvania amidst a series of powerful storms that battered various parts of the United States over the Memorial Day weekend, resulting in at least 22 fatalities.
In Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, no injuries were reported, but significant roof damage occurred at the high school and approximately six residences on Monday night, according to David Truskowsky, spokesperson for the city’s fire department. As a result, classes were canceled in the district for Tuesday.
Mahanoy City, situated about 70 miles northeast of Harrisburg, the state capital, bore the brunt of the storm’s impact.
The National Weather Service, which had issued a tornado warning for the area, scheduled a survey of the storm damage for Tuesday morning. Images capturing funnel clouds were widely circulated on social media platforms.
Before striking Pennsylvania, destructive storms caused fatalities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Notably, a tornado tore through a mobile home park in Cooke County, Texas, claiming seven lives, while eight fatalities were reported across Arkansas.
In Mayes County, Oklahoma, east of Tulsa, two individuals lost their lives, with several others sustaining injuries, including guests at an outdoor wedding.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, having declared a state of emergency earlier, announced at a news conference on Monday that the death toll in his state stood at five.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 200,000 residences and businesses remained without power in Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Missouri, as per data from PowerOutage.us.
Meteorologists cautioned of the potential for severe thunderstorms in Texas and Oklahoma on Tuesday, with risks including damaging winds, large hail, and flash flooding.
This recent spate of tornadoes and severe weather adds to what has already been a grim month for the nation’s midsection. Tornadoes in Iowa last week claimed at least five lives and left dozens injured, while storms in Houston earlier this month resulted in eight fatalities.
April witnessed the second-highest number of tornadoes on record in the country, underscoring the severity of the weather events.
Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, attributed the persistent pattern of tornadoes over the past two months to warm, moist air prevailing at the northern edge of a heat dome. This dome has brought temperatures typically associated with peak summer conditions to late May.
In addition to tornadoes, parts of south Texas experienced scorching temperatures on Monday, with the heat index nearing triple digits. Melbourne and Ft. Pierce in Florida set new daily record highs, each hitting 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius), while Miami recorded a record high of 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35.5 Celsius) on Sunday.
For more detailed information on recent tornado reports, refer to The Associated Press Tornado Tracker.
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