Deadly storms head northeast and 68 million people at risk of severe weather

At least 68 million people are under severe weather warnings on Memorial Day, as storms turned toward the Northeast after claiming at least 19 lives and leaving half a million homes and businesses without power in the central United States.

Strong storms will cross Arkansas and Tennessee and enter the Ohio Valley before tracking north to the East Coast, passing through the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and New York. Heavy rain, winds over 60 mph and hail over 2 inches in diameter are expected, with tornadoes possible, NBC meteorologist Michelle Grossman said in a report Monday morning.

Flash flood warnings were in place for 9 million people, primarily in Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Indiana.

Severe weather spread to Colorado, where a rancher and 34 of his cattle were killed by lightning near the town of Rand, 80 miles northwest of Denver, the Jackson County coroner said. Mike Morgan, 51, was feeding cattle from a trailer when the bolt struck an open pasture; the rest of the 100 head of cattle were unharmed, police said.

The website PowerOutage.us, which tracks energy connections, said there were more than 460,000 homes and businesses without power as of 9:30 a.m. ET in affected areas, including more than 182,000 in Kentucky. Alabama had more than 80,000, the site says.

Some emergency phone lines had been damaged and were not operational, Kentucky State Police said, according to WNKY, an NBC affiliate in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Monday’s weather warnings come after a scorching weekend across southern states and the Great Plains. Eight people reported dead in Arkansas; seven in Texas; two in Oklahoma and two in Kentucky. The deaths were caused by weather-related incidents, including falling trees.

Tornadoes were confirmed throughout the region. Images from the small farming community of Valley View, Texas, about 55 miles north of Fort Worth, showed homes and vehicles destroyed. Weather watchers released photos from Missouri and Kentucky showing huge, menacing funnel clouds as well as golf ball-sized hailstones.

The National Weather Service will send at least two teams to assess damage across Kentucky, a process it said would take several days. A state of emergency has been declared in at least five counties in Kentucky and parts of Arkansas.

As a cold front moves north, extreme heat warnings are in place for South and Central Texas, where temperatures could reach more than 100 degrees Monday, possibly breaking daily records.

The National Weather Service said in a forecast that the heat index — a measure of how hot one feels — could reach a potentially dangerous 120 degrees in the Lone Star State. Equally warm weather is forecast for Key West, Florida and surrounding areas.