Tornadoes, wildfires and blinding dust sweep across U.S. as massive storm leaves at least 32 dead

PIEDMONT, Mo. (AP) — Violent tornadoes and high winds decimated homes, wiped out schools and toppled semitractor-trailers as a monster storm that killed at least 32 people ripped its way across the central and southern U.S.

Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors found five bodies scattered in the debris Friday night outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County, Missouri. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state, authorities said.

“It was a very rough deal last night,” Henderson said Saturday not far from the splintered home from which he said they rescued his aunt through a window of the only room left standing. “It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night.”

Coroner Jim Akers of nearby Butler County described the “unrecognizable home” where one man was killed as “just a debris field.”

“The floor was upside down,” he said. “We were walking on walls.”

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced six people died in three counties and three more people were missing late Saturday as storms moved further east into Alabama, where damaged homes and impassable roads were reported.

Officials confirmed three deaths in Arkansas, where Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp did the same in anticipation of the storm’s shift eastward.

Dust storms spurred by the system’s early high winds claimed almost a dozen lives on Friday. Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.

Extreme weather encompasses a zone of 100 million people

The extreme weather conditions were forecast to impact an area that is home to more than 100 million people, with winds threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and fanning the wildfire risk in warmer, drier places to the south.

Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state and nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference that some 266 square miles (689 square kilometers) had burned, sharing that he lost a home of his own on a ranch northeast of Oklahoma City.

To the north, the National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday. Snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) were expected, with up to a foot (30 centimeters) possible. Winds were expected to cause whiteout conditions.

Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.

Tornadoes have been widespread

Significant tornadoes continued late Saturday, with the region at highest risk stretching from eastern Louisiana and Mississippi through Alabama, western Georgia and the Florida panhandle, the Storm Prediction Center said.

Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiance, Caleb Barnes, watched from their front porch in Tylertown, Mississippi, as a massive twister struck an area about half a mile (0.8 kilometer) away near Paradise Ranch RV Park.

They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help and recorded video of snapped trees, leveled buildings and overturned vehicles.

“The amount of damage was catastrophic,” Dillon said. “It was a large amount of cabins, RVs, campers that were just flipped over. Everything was destroyed.”

Paradise Ranch said via Facebook that all staff and guests were safe and accounted for, but Dillon said the damage extended beyond the RV park itself.

“Homes and everything were destroyed all around it,” she said. “Schools and buildings are just completely gone.”

Some images from the extreme weather went viral online.

Tad Peters and his father, Richard Peters, had pulled over to fuel up their pickup truck in Rolla, Missouri, on Friday night when they heard tornado sirens and saw other motorists fleeing the interstate to park.

“Whoa, is this coming? Oh, it’s here. It’s here,” Tad Peters can be heard saying on a video. “Look at all that debris. Ohhh. My God, we are in a torn ...”

His father then rolled up the window.

The two were headed to Indiana for a weightlifting competition but decided to return home to Norman, Oklahoma, about six hours away, where they then encountered wildfire.

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Walker reported from New York, and Reynolds reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey, Jeff Roberson in Wayne County, Missouri, Gene Johnson in Seattle and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed.