GARLAND, Texas — Residents surveyed the destruction from deadly tornadoes in North Texas as the same storm system brought winter woes to the Midwest on Monday, amplifying flooding that’s blamed for more than a dozen deaths and prompting hundreds of flight cancellations.
At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in the tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area on Saturday and caused substantial damage. That, plus flooding in Missouri and Illinois, were the latest in a succession of severe weather events across the country in the last week that led to dozens of deaths.
The country’s midsection was seeing a range of precipitation, including heavy snow, ice and blustery winds in parts of several states and heavy rain in already-waterlogged parts of Missouri and Arkansas.
The system caused more than 2,200 flights to be canceled by early evening — nearly half of which were at Chicago’s two main airports — and more than 6,000 to be delayed, according to flight-tracking service FlightStats. A typical day sees about 150 cancelations and 4,000 delays.
Authorities in Georgia said they recovered the body of a man whose car was swept away when floodwaters overtook it.
In North Texas, local officials estimated as many as 1,450 homes were damaged or destroyed by at least nine tornadoes.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency after blizzard conditions affected the western and central parts of the state and up to a foot of rain fell in the southern and eastern sections.
To the northeast, several inches of rain caused flooding in Illinois and Missouri, where Gov. Jay Nixon also declared a state of emergency.
