The toll increased again on Monday, April 3, after the violent weekend weather in the United States. Tennessee was particularly hard hit with 15 thunderstorm and tornado-related deaths, the southern state’s emergency management agency reported. Nine people notably lost their lives in McNairy County east of Memphis, while two children and an adult were killed in Memphis even when trees fell on homes, local police said. Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Tennessee victims join 17 others in southern Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and northern Illinois and Indiana and Delaware on the East Coast.
“We are working closely with the State of Indiana and other affected states as they assess the damage and we stand ready to respond to any additional requests for federal assistance,” US President Joe Biden said on Sunday. who also expressed his support for the victims and their families.
Wherever thunderstorms and tornadoes have struck since Friday, residents now have to deal with the damage: overturned cars, uprooted trees, broken telephone poles and gutted houses.
Tornadoes, meteorological phenomena as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country. A week ago, a tornado swept through Mississippi, killing 25 people and causing extensive property damage. President Biden visited the site on Friday.
In December 2021, about 80 people lost their lives after tornadoes hit Kentucky.