US storms kill at least 21 people in 4 states on Memorial Day weekend

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania through Monday evening, the National Weather Service said. The warning was in effect for more than 30 million people in the Northeast as storms were expected to move to that part of the East Coast.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency early Monday. The Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Atlanta area, other parts of Georgia and several western South Carolina counties through at least Monday afternoon.

“It has been a difficult night for our people,” Beshear wrote on the X social media platform on Monday. He later said in a press conference that the devastating storms hit almost the entire state. Authorities said the storms destroyed 100 highways and government roads.

At least seven people were killed — including a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old from the same family — and nearly 100 others were injured Saturday night when a powerful tornado struck communities in North Texas, near the border with Oklahoma. Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference on Sunday.

Late Sunday, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that at least eight people had died in her state after the storms. An Arkansas man with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease died from lack of oxygen during a power outage.

The White House said President Joe Biden offered his condolences for the lives lost when he spoke Monday with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Governors Abbott and Sanders.