In Arkansas, a 26-year-old woman was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, said Daniel Bolen of the county’s Office of Emergency Management.
The weather service confirmed a tornado in Boone County on Sunday.
An additional death in Arkansas was reported in Benton County, one other was reported in Baxter County, and two more were reported in Marion County.
The eight deaths in Arkansas so far have added three to the weekend storm total for the U.S.
The dead in Texas were ages 2 to 72, Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters Sunday. They included two children, ages 2 and 5, and three family members who were found together in a home near the small community of Valley View, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said.
In addition, ambulances and helicopters took multiple people in Denton County to hospitals for storm-related injuries, officials said. The full extent of those injuries was not immediately clear.
Abbott described it as a “harrowing week” for Texans between the loss of life and the devastation in the area. More than 100 injuries were reported, and an estimated 200 structures were destroyed, he said.
About a third of the state’s counties have been added to the governor’s disaster declaration following recent storms, he said.
The National Weather Service has so far confirmed two EF-2 tornadoes in Texas — one that tracked across Montague, Cooke and Denton counties and another in Collin County.
Storm damage at a shopping center in Rogers, Ark., on Sunday.Charlie Kaijo / The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP
One person died in Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Craig Greenberg said Sunday on X, following “the severe weather that just moved through the area,” and some structural damage was reported.
The man was believed to have been hit by a tree when he was found dead, NBC affiliate WAVE reported.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in an update Sunday afternoon on X that though conditions had calmed some, another wave of storms was expected later in the evening. He also noted that at least five counties had declared states of emergency and that an estimated 213,000 customers were reported without power.
Beshear warned people to avoid flooded roads and reminded them to steer clear of downed power lines.
“We have gotten through at least the first part of this event, and we want to make sure we don’t lose anybody else,” he said. “So everybody out there stay safe, be very weather-aware as we go into tonight and late tonight.”
Details about the two deaths in Oklahoma were not immediately available.
Violent nighttime storms
Violent storms overtook the region Saturday evening and overnight, overturning 18-wheelers, destroying homes, toppling power lines and crushing a Shell station in Cooke County, where dozens of people were trapped for a period Saturday night, Sappington told NBC News.