Death Toll at 43 as Wild Weather Tears across Parts of US

Local Editor

Texas reeled from rare December tornados Monday, as days of storms battering a vast region stretching from the southwestern US to Canada claimed at least 43 lives.

Hundreds of flights across the area have been canceled, and with portions of major highways flooded, the storm system is wreaking havoc in holiday travel plans for millions of Americans.

The National Weather Service is warning of blizzards, freezing rain and flash floods in the next days, all part of a powerful storm system fueled by unseasonably warm air that began in the deep south last Wednesday.

The NWS said Monday that 21 states -- from New Mexico to as far north as Michigan -- are under a weather watch or warning as part of the storm system.

Furthermore, the governors of New Mexico, Texas and Missouri declared states of emergency for all or parts of their states to handle storm damage on Sunday. Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia earlier took similar measures.

At least 11 people were killed as tornadoes struck the heavily populated Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas, according to authorities who searched house-to-house Sunday for additional victims.

The rare December twisters flattened homes and knocked cars off of highways. The NWS said that at least nine twisters touched down in the region late Saturday.

Meanwhile, the hardest-hit was the Dallas suburb of Garland, where authorities confirmed eight fatalities after a tornado packing winds of up to 200 miles [320 kilometers] per hour bore down on the city.

City officials said this is only the second time since 1950 that such a powerful tornado struck the area.

Aerial footage showed rows of flattened homes, while others had roofs blown off and windows shattered. Some 600 buildings were damaged or destroyed, officials said.

The storm dumped rare heavy snow in eastern New Mexico, a situation Governor Susana Martinez described as "dire."

Martinez activated the National Guard for disaster assistance, and urged residents to stay off the roads.

In nearby Mississippi, where Governor Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency to deal with flooding, "severe storms" are forecast through Monday, the state Emergency Management Agency said.

The agency also reported 10 storm-related deaths.

Illinois reported five deaths, while eight others were killed in southern states on and before Christmas Day, including one in Arkansas and six in Tennessee.

And one person drowned Sunday in Alabama floodwaters, local officials said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team