By Rich McKay
ATLANTA (Reuters) -At least 13 people were killed in Arkansas and Missouri as a series of tornadoes hit the U.S. Midwest and Southeast overnight, raking a path of destruction that was still being assessed on Saturday, police said.
Twenty-six tornadoes were reported but not confirmed to have touched down late on Friday night and early on Saturday as a low-pressure system drove powerful thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri, said David Roth, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
“Today there is a high risk for more tornadoes across Alabama and Mississippi. The chance is 30%,” he said. “That’s pretty significant.”
Two of the tornado deaths occurred in southern Missouri in the Bakersfield area of Ozark County, about 270 miles (434 km) southeast of Kansas City, and a third death was reported in Butler County, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and other officials said.
Seven others were killed in the storms, the Missouri Highway Patrol said on X, without giving details.
Three other deaths from the overnight storms occurred in Arkansas, the state’s Department of Emergency Management reported on its website, adding that there were 29 injuries.
As the storms regain strength, the highest possible risk of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms is on Saturday night, forecasters said.
The storms will move east throughout Saturday and could hit as far east as the Florida Panhandle and Atlanta by midnight, according to the NWS.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Rod Nickel)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.