TYLERTOWN: Unusually vicious and damaging weather across multiple US states spawned violent tornadoes, blinding dust storms and fast-moving wildfires over the weekend, leaving at least 39 people dead.
In the latest tally of the destruction, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Sunday evening that more than 400 homes were damaged as wildfires swept across the state Friday. At least 74 homes in and around Stillwater were destroyed by wildfires, Mayor Will Joyce said Sunday night on Facebook.
The emergency management department also said the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed four fatalities related to the fires or high winds.
The National Weather Service said weekend tornado watches had mostly expired, but dangerous winds were still possible in the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida through Sunday.
In Mississippi, Hailey Hart and her fiancé Steve Romero hunkered down with their three huskies inside their 1994 Toyota Celica as a tornado ripped apart their home Saturday in Tylertown.
Romero said he prayed out loud and hugged Hart as the car rolled onto its side, windows shattering, before it landed on its wheels again. After the twister passed, they could hear people nearby screaming for help.
“It was a bad dream come true,” Romero said.
Next door, Hart’s grandparents crawled out from the rubble of their destroyed house after they sought shelter in a bathroom as falling trees collapsed the roof.
The dynamic storm that began Friday earned an unusual “high risk” designation from weather forecasters. Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.