Severe Storms Hit Several States

Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, among the hardest hit
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 27, 2015 3:07 PM CST
Severe Storms Hit Several States
Judith Fourzan takes a walk around Memorial Park in El Paso, Texas, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.   (Mark Lambie/The El Paso Times via AP)

Severe storms are continuing to strike several states on Sunday. Among the dramatic winter weather noted in media reports:

  • Oklahoma is seeing a range of precipitation, from blowing and drifting snow in the Panhandle to heavy, flood-inducing rains in the east part of the state. National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Kurtz says it's hard to measure how much snow has fallen in the Panhandle because of 40 to 60 mph winds. That's causing snow drifts from one to two feet high, even with a couple inches of snow on the ground.
  • The body of a motorist has been found in a water-swollen creek in southwestern Missouri, KY3 reports. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings on Sunday for eastern, central, and southwest Missouri, where three to six inches of rain fell during the weekend, and up to four inches more of rain was expected through Monday.
  • The Texas Department of Public Safety in Amarillo is strongly discouraging all travel throughout the entire Texas Panhandle because blowing and drifting snow had made the roads impassable. That's a 26-county area covering nearly 26,000 square miles.
  • Authorities in Alabama are attributing a second death in the state to severe weather that struck the Southeast last week. A southern Illinois coroner says three adults and two children have drowned after the vehicle they were riding in was swept away and sank in a rain-swollen creek.

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