Tornadoes, Wildfires and Blinding Dust Sweep across US as Massive Storm Leaves at Least 35 Dead

Damage is seen inside of the Harmony Hills trailer park on March 15, 2025 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. (Getty Images/AFP)
Damage is seen inside of the Harmony Hills trailer park on March 15, 2025 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Tornadoes, Wildfires and Blinding Dust Sweep across US as Massive Storm Leaves at Least 35 Dead

Damage is seen inside of the Harmony Hills trailer park on March 15, 2025 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. (Getty Images/AFP)
Damage is seen inside of the Harmony Hills trailer park on March 15, 2025 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. (Getty Images/AFP)

Residents pounded by unusually vicious weather across parts of the US surveyed damage Sunday from violent tornadoes, high winds and blinding dust storms that decimated homes and other structures and left at least 35 people dead.

National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Snell said tornado watches remained in effect Sunday morning for portions of the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida. He said the main threat would be damaging winds, but there is the possibility of more tornadoes.

"As we go through the day today, there still is the potential for severe weather from, say, the upper Ohio Valley and western Pennsylvania down through the rest of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast as we have this cold front that's still moving across the country, and it won't clear the East Coast until later on tonight," Snell said.

The dynamic storm from Friday through Sunday earned an unusual "high risk" designation from weather forecasters. Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.

At least three people were killed in central Alabama when multiple tornados swept across the state. Among those killed was an 82-year-old woman who was in a manufactured home that was destroyed by a twister, Dallas County Sheriff Michael L. Granthum said Sunday.

In Troy, Alabama, parks officials said the recreation center where over 200 people had taken shelter would be closed due to damage it received from overnight storms. No one was injured.

"The Recreation Center has significant damage throughout the building," the parks department said. "We are thankful the Lord provided protection over our community, and over 200 guests at the Recreation Center storm shelter, on Saturday night."

Missouri resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors found five bodies scattered in the debris Friday night outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state, authorities said.

"It was a very rough deal last night," Henderson said Saturday, not far from the splintered home from which he said they rescued his aunt through a window of the only room left standing. "It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night."

Authorities were still sifting through massive tornado damage.

On Saturday, Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County described the "unrecognizable home" where one man was killed as "just a debris field."

"The floor was upside down," he said. "We were walking on walls."

In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that six people died in three counties and three more were missing late Saturday.

Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiance, Caleb Barnes, watched from their front porch in Tylertown as a massive twister struck an area about half a mile (0.8 kilometer) away near Paradise Ranch RV Park.

They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help and recorded video of snapped trees, leveled buildings and overturned vehicles.

"The amount of damage was catastrophic," Dillon said. "It was a large amount of cabins, RVs, campers that were just flipped over. Everything was destroyed."

Paradise Ranch said via Facebook that all staff and guests were safe and accounted for, but Dillon said the damage extended beyond the RV park itself.

"Homes and everything were destroyed all around it," she said. "Schools and buildings are just completely gone."

In Arkansas, officials confirmed three deaths.

Dust storms spurred by the system's early high winds claimed almost a dozen lives on Friday. Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.

More than 130 fires were reported across Oklahoma and nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed, Gov. Kevin Stitt said Saturday.



Major Search Continues after Deadly Migrant Boat Sinking Off Cyprus Coast

Handout obtained from Cypriot government’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre shows migrant boat in Mediterranen waters east of Cape Greco in southeastern Cyprus ahead of a rescue operation. (File/AFP)
Handout obtained from Cypriot government’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre shows migrant boat in Mediterranen waters east of Cape Greco in southeastern Cyprus ahead of a rescue operation. (File/AFP)
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Major Search Continues after Deadly Migrant Boat Sinking Off Cyprus Coast

Handout obtained from Cypriot government’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre shows migrant boat in Mediterranen waters east of Cape Greco in southeastern Cyprus ahead of a rescue operation. (File/AFP)
Handout obtained from Cypriot government’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre shows migrant boat in Mediterranen waters east of Cape Greco in southeastern Cyprus ahead of a rescue operation. (File/AFP)

A major rescue operation continued Tuesday off the southern coast of Cyprus after a migrant boat sank in international waters, with no additional survivors or bodies found since the initial recovery, official said.

Authorities Monday said seven bodies had been recovered and two people rescued some 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Cyprus. Officials said the boat was believed to be carrying at least 20 Syrians, The Associated Press reported.

The island republic's Joint Rescue Coordination Center confirmed an ongoing operation involving military helicopters, rescue vessels and drones, assisted by a helicopter from a British base on Cyprus.

“As time passes and no other people are found, hope naturally and dramatically diminishes,” Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas told a press briefing late Monday.

The rescue effort is taking place amid rising irregular border crossings in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the European Union border protection agency Frontex, despite a broader decline across the bloc.

Cypriot officials said they continue to monitor increased maritime movement from Lebanon and Syria amid ongoing regional instability.

Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis said the first survivor had been spotted during a routine patrol. After that, he said, “the response was immediate, which is why we managed to save the second person very quickly.”