1 of 4 | Officials confirmed Saturday at least 13 people are dead after multiple storms tore through Missouri and Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Missouri Highway State Patrol
March 15 (UPI) — Officials confirmed Saturday at least 13 people are dead after multiple storms tore through Missouri and Arkansas. Three people died in Arkansas while another 29 were injured in eight counties throughout the state, the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management said in a statement on its website.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 10 deaths across four counties after a preliminary assessment. The agency urged people to stay away from debris and downed power lines left in the storm’s wake.
Officials are still assessing the scope of the damage that occurred overnight. Wind gusts were measured up to 80 miles per hour.
Accuweather meteorologists have been predicting widespread severe weather, including multiple strong tornadoes lasting through Saturday and spreading from the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf Coast, Great Lakes and Atlantic coast.
The severe weather is expected to continue through Sunday. At its peak, the storm system is expected to affect 1 million square miles and include 30 states.
In addition to the strong wind and tornadoes, large hail is also possible Sunday afternoon in the Southeast.
Around 500,000 customers in nine states were without power as of 12 p.m. EDT Saturday, according to the site poweroutage.us.
Tornado watches remained in place in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio as of noon Saturday.
Severe weather and tornadoes hit Central Florida earlier in the week, leading to storm warnings in several counties.