One of the hardest -hit states was Missouri, which counted 12 deaths in five counties, according to local police information
PORTO ALEGRE, RS (Folhapress) – United States authorities updated on Sunday (16) to 34 the number of deaths in southern and central states due to tornadoes and storms that occur since Saturday dawn.
One of the hardest -hit states was Missouri, which accounted for 12 deaths in five counties, according to local police.
Robbie Myers, Director of Emergency Management at Butler County in Missouri, told reporters that more than 500 houses, a church and a supermarket in the region were devastated. Governor Mike Kehoe decreed a state of emergency on Friday (14).
The state police reported falling trees, breaking electric cables and damage to buildings. Records on social networks show destroyed houses, torn trees and even a truck that fell due to the strength of the winds.
Mississippi governor Tate Reeves wrote on platform X that six deaths were reported in the state -a Covington County, two in Jeff Davis County and three in Walthall County.
According to preliminary reviews, 29 people were injured throughout the state, and 21 counties suffered damage caused by the storm, Reeves said.
At Arkansas, at least three deaths were reported, the state’s emergency management department said, adding that 32 others were injured. Governor Sarah Sanders said she was talking to President Donald Trump, who pledged to help the state.
Twenty-six tornadoes were reported on Friday night and early Saturday, while a low pressure system caused strong storms in parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri, said David Roth, meteorologist at the National Meteorology National Service Prediction Center.
This weekend’s events are another reflection in the United States of the climate crisis. In January, fires that hit California burned an area almost the size of Washington, killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed almost 16,000 structures.
Despite the sequence of events, President Trump is expected to cut part of the team from the main US agency for climate science and meteorology.
The new layoffs would add to the approximately 1,300 employees of the Oceanic and atmospheric National Administration who have been dismissed or dismissed in recent weeks. In addition, the measures would reduce the agency’s team by 20%, which has a budget of US $ 6.8 billion (about $ 39 billion).
The scenario alarm scientists, meteorologists and other agency members, which includes the National Meteorology Service. Some activities, such as the launch of weather balloons, have already been suspended due to staff scarcity.
The effort is part of the “reductions of strength” that President Donald Trump demanded as part of a decree last month, while he and billionaire Elon Musk make fast and large -scale cuts in federal bureaucracy.
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