(Adnkronos) – At least 20 people have died as a result of violent storms that have hit the central and southern United States in recent days. Eighteen weather-related deaths have been reported since Wednesday in Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas and Mississippi, and according to local media two other victims, a father and son, were killed by a falling tree on a golf course in Georgia. The heaviest toll was recorded in Tennessee, where a tornado struck the town of Selmer, killing 10 people.
According to data collected through Sunday, approximately 90 tornadoes have occurred nationwide. Heavy rains have caused flooding in many areas, prompting the weather service to issue an alert for the risk of potentially deadly flooding. The situation worsened over the weekend especially in Kentucky, where Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency. In Covington, at the intersection of the Ohio and Licking rivers, several roads were flooded. In Frankfort, the state capital, the Kentucky River nearly reached its record level of 15 meters.
The storms also caused power outages: As of Monday, about 80,000 customers in the affected territories were without power, according to the Poweroutage.us portal. Air travel was also disrupted, with about 4,000 delayed flights and 150 cancellations Sunday, U.S. media reported.
