42 Dead in Severe Storms, Tornadoes That Swept across US

Multiple states woke up Monday morning to damage from dust storms, wildfires, rain and tornadoes following nearly 1,500 storm reports across the country from Friday to Sunday.

Two children died in Transylvania County, North Carolina, after a tree fell through the center of their family’s trailer early Sunday. Firefighters found the boys — ages 11 and 13 — "trapped directly under the tree and other debris," Connestee Fire Rescue said in a news release. Three other family members lived in the home and escaped unharmed.

"I am heartbroken to learn that two children were killed over the weekend due to severe weather. May their memories be a blessing," North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein wrote Monday on X.

Overall, three deaths were reported in Alabama, three in Arkansas, 12 in Missouri, four in Oklahoma, eight in Kansas, six in Mississippi, two in North Carolina and four in Texas, according to a tally by NBC News.

Over the weekend, a twister outbreak ripped across seven states — Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana — uprooting trees, tearing apart homes and businesses and downing power lines.

"I was holding my wife to my chest and just watching everything disappear and watching everything get ripped out away from me," William Shultz, of Tylertown, Mississippi, told NBC News’ Kathy Park. "I’m just thankful to be alive. The important thing is me and my family are safe."

An EF-2 tornado threw a yellow school bus onto the roof of Winterboro High School in Talladega County, Alabama, on Saturday.

The National Weather Service office in Jackson, Mississippi, reported at least eight confirmed tornadoes in the state from Friday to Saturday, with more likely as surveys continue.

The National Weather Service Office of Atlanta also reported an EF-1 tornado touched down in Paulding County late Saturday, with maximum winds hitting 110 mph. It touched down west of Sudie and continued northeast for more than 11 miles through the areas of Dallas and New Hope. The weather service office in Birmingham, Alabama, reported 16 areas of suspected tornado damage, including an EF-3 tornado in Dallas County.

The strongest confirmed twister was a powerful EF-4 with 190-mph winds reported in Jackson County, Arkansas.

In Chilton County, Alabama, Ralph and Rebecca Mims and their family survived an EF-3 tornado Saturday. The twister picked up their mobile home off its foundation and dropped it feet away, and the family survived by hunkering down in a homemade shelter in the ground.

"If we had been in that house, we wouldn’t be here today," Ralph Mims told NBC affiliate WVTM of Birmingham, noting that all 15 members of the family were able to safely ride out the storm.

According to PowerOutage.US, more than 120,000 customers were without power Monday morning — more than 56,000 in Pennsylvania, more than 25,000 in Missouri, more than 23,000 in New York, more than 8,000 in West Virginia and more than 7,800 in North Carolina.

Wildfires also raged across Texas and Oklahoma, killing at least four people. In Kansas, a dust storm caused a highway pile-up that killed at least eight people.

The storms have lost gusto as the system moved east. As it pushes off the United States, it will bring more rain, including as much as 3 inches or more isolated in some areas in the Northeast.

Flood watches are in effect across northern New York and northern New England, where heavy rain combined with snowmelt could cause isolated flooding. The heaviest rain will end for the start of the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City, but showers could linger into the afternoon.

The heavy rain will move off New England by Monday evening.

On Monday, 8 million people in the western United States were under winter storm watches and warnings, although the storms' impacts will be less severe than those of this past weekend.

Heavy snow and intense 60-mph wind gusts are expected to blanket the Sierra Nevada on Monday. Snow will also fall across the Plains and into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan into Tuesday.

NBC News' Al Roker said conditions would be "bone dry" in the middle part of the country, creating a critical risk for fire from Denver down to San Angelo, Texas, and east to Oklahoma City.

On Monday, 42 million people were under fire alerts across the Great Plains and the Florida peninsula.

The low pressure system will move east onto the central Plains on Tuesday, bringing an extreme risk for fire danger with strong wind gusts.