(Washington) The toll of the tornadoes and violent storms which hit several American states this weekend has reached at least 26 dead, according to the authorities.
In Indiana, five people were killed by a storm, three in Sullivan County and two campers in Owen County, the state’s natural resources management agency announced on Saturday evening.
These deaths add to the 21 victims recorded in the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, in the south, as well as those of Illinois, in the north of the country, and Delaware on the East coast.
A structure collapse in Sussex County, Delaware, left one dead on Saturday evening, with weather services also warning neighboring states like Pennsylvania and New York of high winds and potential tornadoes.
Tennessee was also hard hit with at least 9 deaths, all of which occurred in McNairy County, east of Memphis, authorities said.
Wherever thunderstorms and tornadoes have struck since Friday, residents must now face a spectacle of devastation with overturned cars, huge uprooted trees, broken telephone poles and gutted houses.
More than 230,000 homes remained without electricity in several northeastern states on Sunday according to the American site PowerOutage.
Tornadoes, meteorological phenomena as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.
A week ago, a tornado swept through Mississippi, killing 25 people and causing extensive property damage. President Joe Biden visited the site on Friday.
In December 2021, approximately 80 people lost their lives after tornadoes hit Kentucky.