2022 was the eighth consecutive year in which 10 or more separate billion-dollar disasters have hit the US, up from an average of 7.9 such events between 1980 and 2022, says a government report.
Authorities declare a state of emergency to allow for a quick response and to aid in cleanup from another powerful storm just days earlier.
Three people die as a tornado rips through southeastern Louisiana state, one of a swarm of twisters hitting the region as part of a massive winter storm system sweeping US.
Powerful tornadoes hit southern states of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, leaving at least two people dead and flattening homes and buildings there, officials say.
US authorities say at least seven people, including two children, died in Des Moines town and Lucas County.
Each year, the US gets around four times as many twisters as the rest of the world combined.
About 26,000 homes and businesses were without electricity across the US state of Kentucky as residents faced gas and water outages after infrastructure was damaged.
The crash on an interstate highway near the city of Greenville involved at least 15 vehicles and was "probably" caused by hydroplaning under torrential rains, Butler County coroner Wayne Garlock said.
It wasn't clear whether the combination of destroyed housing and social distancing requirements due to Covid-19 outbreak would lead to problems for tornado survivors, some of whom said they planned to stay with relatives.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency director Greg Michel said one person killed was in Walthall County, two were killed in Lawrence County and three were killed in Jefferson Davis County.
Voting hours were extended due to the devastation the twisters wrought when they touched down shortly after midnight. Rubble was strewn across the state capital Nashville.
Storm-related fatalities were reported in Texas due to icy weather, in Alabama from a deadly tornado and in Louisiana, where winds were so strong that a trailer home was lifted off its foundation and carried several hundred feet.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel for all latest in-depth, on the ground reporting from around the world.
Copyright © 2023 TRT World.
Like
Follow