At least 18 people are dead after tornado-spawning storms strike the central US on Memorial Day weekend

 At least 18 people, including four children, are dead in four states after suspected tornadoes struck the central United States overnight and as millions face continued severe weather threats through the remainder of the Memorial Day weekend Just under 109 million people across broad swaths of the US were under threat of large hail, damaging winds and a fierce twisters  Sunday, mainly throughout the mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee River valleys. As the storms move east, the Storm Prediction Center warned of “violent tornadoes, extreme hail and corridors of widespread wind damage.” President Joe Biden has been briefed on the storms.

A heightened tornado watch designated as a rare “particularly dangerous situation” calling for “several tornadoes and few intense likely” went into effect on Sunday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. The watch covers parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee – including in St. Louis and Jefferson City, Missouri; Paducah, Kentucky; and Carbondale, Illinois – and impacts 4.7 million people. This is a special kind of tornado watch issued only when there’s unusually high confidence in the potential of multiple at least EF2-strength and long-lived tornadoes in the area, according to the National Weather Service.The supercell thunderstorms firing up in the watch area will also be capable of large hail bigger than the size of baseballs and damaging wind gusts to 75 mph. “Intense supercell thunderstorms will continue to develop across the watch area through this evening. Several tornadoes are likely, some of which are expected to be intense. Very large hail is also likely, along with the risk for potentially significant damaging wind gusts,” says the Storm Prediction Center.

Severe storms kill over a dozen people

At least seven people in Cooke County, Texas, were killed when severe storms hit the area Saturday night, Sheriff Ray Sappington told CNN. Two victims were 2 and 5 years old.

At least eight people died in Arkansas, officials say.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency Sunday afternoon to support the severe weather and tornado-ravaged parts of the state. One person died in Kentucky, according to Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg . In northeast Oklahoma, two people were killed and at least 23 were injured as a result of severe storms overnight, local officials told CNN. Survey teams from the National Weather Service found severe damage Sunday in Claremore, Oklahoma, giving the tornado a preliminary rating of EF3 – which pack winds between 136 and 165 mph. Inside a Shell gas station in northeast Texas, 60 to 80 people were trapped until the storm blew over, Sappington said. Multiple injuries were reported at the station, but none were life-threatening, he added.