Devastating storms kill at least 39 across 7 states in the South and Midwest [View all]

Source: AP

By JOHN SEEWER and SAFIYAH RIDDLE
Updated 12:21 PM CDT, March 17, 2025

PLANTERSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Crammed into their two-door Toyota Celica with three huskies, Hailey Hart and her fiance Steve Romero hugged and prayed as a tornado rolled the car upside down before tossing it on its wheels again.

They heard screams for help minutes after the twister ripped apart their home in Tylertown, Mississippi. “It was a bad dream come true,” Romero said.

Next door, Hart’s grandparents crawled out from the rubble of their house where they had sought shelter in a bathroom on Saturday. They all escaped with just a few scratches and aches.

Throughout the South and Midwest, residents and work crews were beginning to clean up Monday and survey the destruction after severe weather across seven states kicked up a devastating combination of wildfires, dust storms and tornadoes, claiming at least 39 lives since Friday.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/us-storm-weather-tornadoes-wildfires-deaths-8a3dda6e3f7e5fda634e74a5520ca9b5