Deadly Storms Move Across the US

Ten deaths and 58 injuries were reported in MS from the Christmas holiday storms, Governor Phil Bryant said at a news conference. Many died after their cars were swept away by floodwater.

Gov. Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency Sunday in response to the snowstorm. “Use caution if traveling this morning, especially on bridges”.

An unusual amount of late-fall rain had the river already high before torrential downpours that began Saturday. More than a third of those cancellations were due to fly into or out of the two main airports in Chicago, where freezing rain was being whipped by heavy winds. The weather service said damage indicated it was an EF-3 tornado, which has winds up to 165 miles per hour. Fifteen people were hurt and 600 structures were damaged.

Forecasters say the line of severe weather is expected to make its way across the Panhandle on Monday.

The weather report forecasted more than one foot of snow for southwestern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota in addition to constantly falling snow in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.

More than 1,000 flights had been cancelled and almost 2,500 more delayed as of Monday morning, according to the FlightAware website.

A heavily damaged residence is seen December 27, 2015 in the aftermath of a tornado in Rowlett, Texas. Blizzard warnings are also in effect in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and into western Oklahoma. Thousands of power outages were also reported from Texas on Monday.

Vito Randazzo of California said he sat on I-10 for about 13 hours and people were sleeping in their cars. “Everybody’s just sleeping in their cars”, said Randazzo, who added that the roadway was snow-packed and icy.

Abbott urged Texans to remain vigilant to perilous conditions north of I-10, including the threat of rising waters.

“A variety of unsafe weather conditions will continue across the middle of the country through Sunday”, the National Weather Service said.

Near the state capital Montgomery, more than 300 inmates at the minimum-security Red Eagle Community Work Center were forced to evacuate due to flooding, local media reported.

A witness reported the soldiers’ auto driving onto a flooded road and immediately getting swept downstream, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office said. Though both lanes closed Sunday because of rising flood waters, the westbound lanes reopened Monday morning. And flooding in the Southeast last week killed 19.

He says the tornado victims included a one-year-old in a vehicle thrown from an overpass on Interstate 30.

Wind-blown waves from Lake Michigan break around the Shedd Aquarium as a winter storm moves across IL on Monday.

Other parts of the city saw damage, too, and assessments will be completed this week.

Officials in MS are reporting downed trees across a highway and a roof blown off a house from a storm about 20 miles northwest of Hattiesburg.

Central Texas meanwhile was facing flood risks, while the east was bracing for the possibility of more tornadoes.

A staggering 100,000 customers across the state were without power Monday morning, said Matt Skinner, public information manager for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

“Slick conditions developing, salt & sand trucks are out”, the state Transportation Department tweeted.

Those areas could get walloped with more than 8 inches of snow, with possible snowdrifts higher than 6 feet, the National Weather Service said.

The massive system brought heavy rain and flash floods to Illinois, Missouri, and Texas. Power was out throughout much of the city Saturday night, Rowlett Mayor Todd Gottel said.

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