据美联社和阿肯色州官员称，周末的严重风暴导致德克萨斯州、俄克拉荷马州、阿肯色州、密苏里州和堪萨斯州至少20人死亡。
据官方报道，五个州至少发生了25次龙卷风。
德克萨斯州遭受重创
州长格雷格·阿博特在周日晚上的新闻发布会上说，恶劣天气席卷德克萨斯州，造成7人死亡，100多人受伤。
阿博特说，得克萨斯州有106个县处于灾难宣布状态。
得克萨斯州官员说，200多所房屋或建筑被毁，另有120所受损。
据报道，周六晚上龙卷风袭击库克县时，当地居民躲在壳牌加油站内达拉斯-沃斯堡中航WFAA分公司。龙卷风开始撕裂大楼，居民们纷纷寻找安全的地方。
据WFAA称，加油站内无人死亡。
艾伯特哀悼在风暴中丧生的人，他说:“只有一件事不能重建，那就是生命的损失——这就是为什么我们总是向每个人强调，无论你在任何类型的风暴中做什么，都要把生命放在第一位。”
官员称，来自同一个家庭的一名2岁和一名5岁儿童在德克萨斯州库克县遇害。库克县治安官办公室告诉记者，这些孩子是在达拉斯以北地区遇难的七人之一美联社周日。
袭击库克县的龙卷风初步评级为EF-2级，风速高达135英里/小时。
据库克县警长雷·萨平顿说，风暴席卷了德克萨斯州谷景附近的一个路边旅游中心，然后继续穿过一个人造房屋社区。
他告诉记者，有60多人受伤WFAA.
根据萨平顿的说法，大多数死亡事件发生在达拉斯西北约60英里的Valley View的FRF庄园附近。
他说，周日上午，在“重大破坏”中，应急响应人员正在梳理幸存者的进展
萨平顿说，另一个受灾严重的地区是谷景镇的Gateway AP旅游中心，许多人离开道路，在停车场或卡车停靠站的洗手间寻求庇护。萨平顿说，该设施有60至80人受伤。
库克县治安官办公室周日上午在一份声明中说:“风暴给许多家庭和企业造成了重大损失，包括Gateway AP旅游中心，该中心受到了重大损害。”“紧急服务部门正在废墟中积极搜寻失踪人员，据报道有许多不同程度的受伤。”
萨平顿警告人们远离风暴破坏的地区，紧急救援人员正在搜寻幸存者并清理道路上的废墟。
萨平顿说:“如果人们现在离开，给我们几个小时来完成搜救工作，那真的会很有帮助。”“我知道有些人离开了该地区并试图返回，但那里很危险。电线断了。有报道称煤气泄漏。现在很危险。给我们点时间做我们该做的事。我们仍在努力救人。人们现在能做的最好的事情就是给我们一点时间。”
与此同时，据贝拉维斯塔警察局称，一场山体滑坡关闭了阿肯色州贝拉维斯塔340号高速公路的两个方向。警方称，道路下方的地面被暴雨冲刷，并“损坏了路面”，公路因此关闭。
官员称阿肯色州2人被杀
阿肯色州官员表示，周日凌晨一场可能的龙卷风袭击了该州，造成至少两人死亡。官员们说，在该州西北部的本顿县发现一人死亡，一名26岁的女子被发现死在布恩县奥尔维一处被毁的房屋外。
本顿县法官巴里·默林(Barry Moehring)在新闻发布会上表示，除了两人死亡外，本顿县还有数人受伤。
默林说，至少有一场可能的龙卷风袭击了本顿县的迪凯特镇，另外两场似乎在比弗湖附近着陆。
默林说，许多树木和电线在风暴中被刮倒，强劲的直线风也在本顿维尔造成了重大破坏，法院大楼的一部分被摧毁。
他说，紧急救援人员正在对被困在废墟中的人员的报告做出回应。
阿肯色州罗杰斯市的警方周日在脸书张贴了照片，显示罗杰斯市中心遭到广泛破坏。罗杰斯警察局表示，应急小组正在搜寻幸存者并评估损失。
“我们所有的主要街道都有树木或被封闭，我们仍在响应并试图接到电话。街上太多的汽车妨碍了我们的反应，”罗杰斯警察局在脸书的一份帖子中说，要求人们不要开车绕过路障。
俄克拉荷马州2人死亡
俄克拉荷马州首席法医办公室告诉塔尔萨ABC附属机构，一场可能的龙卷风袭击了塔尔萨以东约45英里的俄克拉荷马州普莱尔市，造成至少两人死亡KTUL.
从华盛顿特区到北卡罗来纳州发布龙卷风警报
国家气象局发布了对哥伦比亚特区、马里兰州中部和东部、弗吉尼亚州东部和北部以及北卡罗来纳州中部和东部的部分地区的龙卷风观察，直到周一晚上11点。
NWS表示:“破坏性大风预计将是最常见的风险，但也可能出现冰雹，潮湿的环境和强劲的大气风也将支持龙卷风风险。”
At least 20 dead across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas in severe storms
Severe storms over the weekend led to the deaths of at least 20 people across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas, according to The Associated Press and Arkansas state officials.
At least 25 tornadoes were reported across five states, according to officials.
Texas hit hard
Seven people died in Texas and more than 100 were injured as the severe weather swept through the state, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Sunday evening.
Abbott said 106 counties in Texas were under disaster declarations.
More than 200 homes or structures were destroyed and another 120 were damaged, Texas officials said.
Video shows Cooke County residents hiding in a Shell gas station as a tornado hit the area Saturday night, according toDallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate WFAA. The tornado begins to tear apart the building with residents scrambling for safety.
No one inside the gas station was killed, according to WFAA.
Abbott mourned those who were killed in the storms, saying, "There's only one thing that cannot be rebuilt, and that's a loss of life -- That's why we always stress to everybody, whatever you do in any type of storm, put life first."
A 2-year-old and a 5-year-old from the same family were killed in Cooke County, Texas, officials said. The children were among the seven people who were killed in the area, which is north of Dallas, the Cooke County Sheriff's Office toldthe APon Sunday.
The tornado that battered Cooke County was preliminarily rated an EF-2 with winds up to 135 mph.
The storm tore through a roadside travel center near Valley View, Texas, before continuing through a community of manufactured homes, according to Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington.
More than 60 people were injured, he toldWFAA.
Most of those fatalities occurred at the nearby FRF Estates in Valley View, a community of manufactured homes about 60 miles northwest of Dallas, according to Sappington.
He said emergency response crews were combing the development for survivors Sunday morning amid "major damage."
Sappington said another hard-hit area was the Gateway AP Travel Center in Valley View, where many people pulled off the road to seek shelter in the parking lot or in the truck stop's restrooms. Sappington said 60 to 80 people were injured at the facility.
"The storm has caused significant damage to numerous homes and businesses, including the Gateway AP Travel Center, which received major damage," the Cooke County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Sunday morning. "Emergency services are actively searching the debris for missing persons, and there have been numerous injuries of varying degrees reported."
Sappington warned people to stay away from the storm-damaged areas as emergency crews searched for survivors and cleared roads of debris.
"It would really help if people just stayed away right now, gave us a few hours to get our search and rescue done," Sappington said. "I know some people were out of the area and trying to get back, but it's dangerous out there. Power lines are down. There have been reports of gas leaks. It's just dangerous right now. Just give us some time to do what we need to do. We're trying to still rescue people. The best thing people can do right now is give us a little time."
Meanwhile, a landslide closed both directions of Highway 340 in Bella Vista, Arkansas, according to the Bella Vista Police Department. The highway was closed after the ground underneath the roadway was washed out by heavy rains and "compromised the road surface," police said.
2 killed in Arkansas, officials say
Arkansas officials said at least two people were killed when a possible tornado hit early Sunday morning. One person was found dead in Benton County in the northwest part of the state, and a 26-year-old woman was discovered dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey in Boone County, officials said.
In addition to the two deaths, several people were injured in Benton County, Barry Moehring, a Benton County judge, said during a news conference.
At least one possible tornado ripped through the Benton County town of Decatur and two others appeared to touch down near Beaver Lake, Moehring said.
Numerous trees and powerlines were knocked down in the storm and powerful straight-line winds also caused significant damage in Bentonville, where part of the courthouse was destroyed, Moehring said.
He said emergency crews were responding to reports of people trapped in the rubble.
Police in Rogers, Arkansas, also in Benton County, posted photos Sunday on Facebook showing widespread damage in downtown Rogers. The Rogers Police Department said emergency teams were searching for survivors and assessing the damage.
"All our major streets have trees or are closed, and we are still responding and trying to get to calls. Too many cars on the streets hamper our response," the Rogers Police Department said in a Facebook post asking people not to drive around barricades.
2 deaths in Oklahoma
At least two people were killed when a possible tornado hit Pryor, Oklahoma, about 45 miles east of Tulsa, the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told Tulsa ABC affiliateKTUL.
Tornado watch issued from Washington, D.C., to North Carolina
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for portions of the District Of Columbia, central and eastern Maryland, eastern and northern Virginia, and central and eastern North Carolina until 11 p.m. Monday.
"Damaging winds are expected to be the most common risk, but some hail is possible, and a moist environment and strong atmospheric winds will also support a tornado risk," the NWS said.
