Tornado of at least EF2 strength struck northeast Oklahoma, weather service says (2024)

A tornado of at least EF2 strength struck Claremore, Oklahoma, overnight, according to initial reports from the National Weather Service in Tulsa.

EF2 tornadoes pack winds of 111 to 135 mph and are often responsible for strong damage.

“Survey continues and the rating is subject to change,” the National Weather Service notes in a post on X. Additional details about damage and the tornado's path length will be released as the service completes its surveys.

The tornado left 23 people injured in Claremore, a city of about 20,000 people in northeastern Oklahoma. Two people were killed in nearby Pryor. The area is also experiencing power outages and property damage from the severe storms.

A total of seven people were killed in the town of Valley View in Cooke County, Texas, when severe storms struck the area Saturday night, Sheriff Ray Sappington told CNN.

Authorities previously said five people had been killed in Valley View. Officials then discovered the bodies of two children, ages 2 and 5, on Sunday, according to Sappington. Two other juveniles were among those killed in the storms, he added.

Three of the deaths occurred in one household, the sheriff told CNN on Sunday morning.

Cooke County is in northern Texas, along the state's border with Oklahoma. The small town of Valley View has a population of just under 800 people.

Rising death toll: The updated figures from Texas bring the death toll from the storms overnight Saturday into Sunday to at least 10, according to officials in three states.

At least two people have died in Oklahoma, and one in Arkansas, authorities said earlier Sunday.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the tornado-spawning storms that struck the central United States overnight, a White House official told CNN, adding that the president’s team will continue to keep him updated.

At least eight people, including children, were killed by the storms, according to officials in three states. The severe weather also caused power outages and forced residents to shelter in place.

More than 110 million people across parts of the US remain under threat of strong storms Sunday.

The storms that tore through the central US on Saturday night downed trees and damaged property in Mayfield, Kentucky.

Graves County Emergency Management Director Tracy Warner tells CNN that no one was injured or killed.

Five to six homes were damaged, some trees are down county-wide, and power lines snapped, according to Warner. Images from the community show a damaged gas station overhang and a tree blocking a road.

Currently, about 7,500 people are without power in Graves County, Warner said. Volunteer fire crews are clearing roads, while state highway patrol and county road crews work to clear the bigger trees.

Graves County is located on Kentucky's southwestern border with Tennessee.

Fans are being asked to leave the pre-race ceremonies at the Indianapolis 500 because of "the proximity of lightning" moving toward the speedway.

Attendees are being ushered away from the grandstands and Snake Pit music festival, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway said in a post on X.

The highly-anticipated race will also be delayed, according to organizers. It was originally scheduled to start at 12:45 p.m. ET. A new starting time has not yet been announced.

A field of 33 drivers are set to compete for 200 laps and 500 miles — including 2023 champ Josef Newgarden.

Storms that slammed parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas overnight Saturday into Sunday are now causing mass power outages as they make their way east.

Around 11:50 a.m. ET, 393,501 customers were without power across six states, according to the tracking websitepoweroutage.us:

Two people were killed and over 20 were injured by severe storms that tore through northeast Oklahoma Saturday night, according to local authorities.

The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed two people died in the city of Pryor, located in Mayes County, due to the overnight storms.

In the city of Claremore, 17 miles away from Pryor, 23 people were injured, including three with "potentially critical or life-threatening injuries," Claremore City Manager John Feary said. The storm took down electrical substations and badly damaged multiple buildings in the surrounding Rogers County.

According to Feary, all four substations are down in Claremore, but officials anticipate having some power back Sunday — at least enough to power both hospitals and the water treatment plant.

Gas stations are not operating in the city, and crews are still working to assess the damage, he added.

About 7,400 Oklahoma utility customers were without power as of 10:30 a.m. local time (11:30 a.m. ET), according to poweroutage.us. The outages are mostly in Rogers and Mayes counties.

Rising death toll: The news from Oklahoma brings the death toll from overnight storms and likely tornadoes to at least eight people across three states.

At least five people have died in Texas and one person has died in Arkansas, according to local officials.

A new tornado watch is in effect for southern Indiana, central Kentucky, and western and middle Tennessee until 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT), according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The watch impacts 6.8 million people and includes Louisville, Nashville and Knoxville.

A line of strong thunderstorms with a history of producing severe weather continues to move east into the area, prompting this new watch.

These storms are also capable of producing scattered large hail and some isolated, very large hail of up to 2 inches in diameter — the size of a golf ball.

There are power outages in five states following severe storms in the central US over Memorial Day weekend, according to poweroutage.us.

Here's where customers are experiencing outages as of just after 10 a.m. ET Sunday: