Communities from Texas to New York were reeling Tuesday after a devastating holiday brought tornadoes, thunderstorms and heavy rain that killed at least 24 people and left hundreds of thousands without power.
The period of severe weather isn’t over for Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which was rocked by storms Tuesday morning that knocked out power, downed trees, caused hail and messed up the area.
More than 1 million homes and businesses in Texas remained without power Tuesday afternoon, according to Poweroutage.usand authorities warn it could be days before the lights – and air conditioning – are back up and running.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the power issue “will be a multi-day situation.”
Tuesday’s storms in North Texas come just days after a deadly system claimed the lives of at least seven people over the holiday weekend in neighboring Cooke County.
Memorial Day brought heavy, intense rain with very little visibility to Iowa, social media videos show. Hailstones the size of golf balls could be seen falling on vehicles in the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff.
Video on social media showed strong winds and heavy rain in Lewisville, Texas, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) north of Dallas.
An American Airlines plane was pushed away from a gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport by high winds, an airport spokesperson confirmed.
A hail storm on Monday was so strong in Hurst, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, that it broke through the roof of a Walmart store, prompting shoppers to use nearby produce to provide shelter, according to videos sent to Instagram.
The Royse City Methodist Church in Rockwall, Texas, which is east of Dallas, was struck by lightning.
“There were no reports of injuries and the building was a total loss,” Rockwall Fire Department spokeswoman Ariana Kistner said.
About 40 miles away in Frisco, two neighboring homes were struck by lightning Tuesday, resulting in severe damage to one and moderate damage to the other, according to the local fire department. There were no injuries or victims.
The damaging weather spread across the region and much of the country. National Weather Service offices in Kentucky and Arkansas sent crews to inspect debris from deadly holiday storms. They found damage consistent with the strength of EF3 tornadoes – the third highest rating in the world. Improved Fujita scale that measures tornado intensity, consistent with winds of up to 165 mph.
The office in Paducah, Kentucky, said it was consulting experts internally to determine whether the tornado should be classified as EF4, the second-highest rating, used when winds are between 166 and 200 mph.
Images from the drone camera showed the extent of the storm damage in Paragould, Arkansaswhere houses lost roofs and some structures were almost completely demolished.
The weather service’s damage survey team in Louisville, Kentucky, confirmed two EF1 tornadoes touched down Sunday, with winds of up to 90 mph.
As for the rest of the week and beyond, the first signs are emerging that this busy and historic tornado season — there were 461 reports of tornadoes in May alone — may be slowing down.
The extreme heat that has seen much of Texas and the Gulf Coast reach triple-digit temperatures in recent days is finally easing, but the index — a measure of how hot it is — could still reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, the climate service said.
Mirna Alsharif contributed.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
