Family friend Trey Bridges, 16, climbs a mountain of tornado debris to help the Blansett family recover items not destroyed by Saturday's tornado, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Tylertown, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Steve Romero, comforts his fiancee, Hailey Hart, right, Sunday, March 16, 2024, after recalling how the couple and their three dogs rode out an apparent tornado in their small automobile, Saturday afternoon, in Tylertown, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A recovery volunteer climbs a tree to recover a torn American flag from Saturday's tornado that passed through Tylertown, Miss., and other communities on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A stump smolders as a remnant of the Crabapple Fire over the weekend in Gillespie County, Texas, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Robin Jerstad/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Supplies are set up in front of Gillespie County's St. Paul's Lutheran Cave Creek Church for first responders of the Crabapple Fire, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Fredericksburg, Texas. (Robin Jerstad/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
This image taken with a drone shows storm damage at the Lovelady Lane and Dallas County 63 interchange, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Plantersville, Ala, following deadly tornados that hit the area Saturday. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
Well known community member Dunk Pickering perished at this warehouse site where he often hosted community members on Dallas County 63, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Plantersville, Ala, following deadly tornados that hit the area Saturday. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
Strong winds knock down a group of pine trees in Richland Township, Pa. Monday, March 17, 2025, during a severe thunderstorm that swept through the region Sunday. (Thomas Slusser/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)
A cat cries out while sitting before a destroyed cabin from a tornado at Paradise Ranch RV Resort in Tylertown, Miss., Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Donna Blansett, holds her dog LuLu, and recalls how she and husband Bobby Blansett, managed to escape Saturday from their tornado destroyed mobile home after a series of storms passed Tylertown, Miss., on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A grove of pine trees were destroyed by Saturday's tornado in Tylertown, Miss., shown on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
RVS
Family friend Trey Bridges, 16, climbs a mountain of tornado debris to help the Blansett family recover items not destroyed by Saturday's tornado, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Tylertown, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
RVS
Steve Romero, comforts his fiancee, Hailey Hart, right, Sunday, March 16, 2024, after recalling how the couple and their three dogs rode out an apparent tornado in their small automobile, Saturday afternoon, in Tylertown, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
RVS
A recovery volunteer climbs a tree to recover a torn American flag from Saturday's tornado that passed through Tylertown, Miss., and other communities on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
RVS
Tommy May, tosses a broken mirror from a tornado destroyed home of relatives, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Tylertown, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
RVS
A stump smolders as a remnant of the Crabapple Fire over the weekend in Gillespie County, Texas, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Robin Jerstad/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Robin Jerstad
Supplies are set up in front of Gillespie County's St. Paul's Lutheran Cave Creek Church for first responders of the Crabapple Fire, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Fredericksburg, Texas. (Robin Jerstad/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Robin Jerstad
This image taken with a drone shows storm damage at the Lovelady Lane and Dallas County 63 interchange, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Plantersville, Ala, following deadly tornados that hit the area Saturday. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
VH
Well known community member Dunk Pickering perished at this warehouse site where he often hosted community members on Dallas County 63, Monday, March 17, 2025, in Plantersville, Ala, following deadly tornados that hit the area Saturday. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
VH
Strong winds knock down a group of pine trees in Richland Township, Pa. Monday, March 17, 2025, during a severe thunderstorm that swept through the region Sunday. (Thomas Slusser/The Tribune-Democrat via AP)
Thomas Slusser
A cat cries out while sitting before a destroyed cabin from a tornado at Paradise Ranch RV Resort in Tylertown, Miss., Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
RVS
Donna Blansett, holds her dog LuLu, and recalls how she and husband Bobby Blansett, managed to escape Saturday from their tornado destroyed mobile home after a series of storms passed Tylertown, Miss., on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
At least 42 people are dead after a weekend of dynamic storms unleashed tornadoes, blinding dust and wildfires — leaving behind uprooted trees and flattening hundreds of homes and businesses across eight U.S. states in the South and Midwest.
Weather forecasters gave an unusual “high risk†designation to the storm system, which began Friday before tapering off Sunday. For now, people in the affected communities are surveying damage as some brace for more potentially damaging weather.
Here's what to know about the unusually central and eastern portions of the U.S.
Where and how did people die?
Missouri lost the most lives in the storm and tornadoes, with 13 reported killed. Mississippi saw six people killed by tornadoes.
Wildfires or high winds were blamed for four deaths in Oklahoma, including a person who died in a car crash due to poor visibility and an individual whose remains were found in a burned home.
Vehicle crashes caused by dust storms killed eight in Kansas and three in Texas. Alabama and Arkansas each reported three.
The storm also killed two boys, ages 11 and 13, when a tree fell on their home in western North Carolina on Sunday, according to firefighters.
Multiple tornadoes in several states
There was a significant outbreak of tornadoes, with a preliminary count of 46 on Friday and 41 on Saturday, said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Two strong tornadoes tore through the same Mississippi county roughly within an hour of the other on Saturday, according to the weather agency.
The twisters had preliminary ratings of EF-2 and EF-3, out of a rating scale of 0 to 5, and caused devastating damage in Walthall County, in far southern Mississippi, and in Tylertown.
Wildfires and dust storms also proved deadly
caused extensive damage in Oklahoma and officials in both Oklahoma and Texas warned that parts of both states would again face an increased risk of fire danger this week.
More than 130 fires were reported across the state on Friday and over 400 homes were damaged.
Dust storms spurred by high winds resulted at least 50 vehicles crashing on a highway Friday, killing at least eight people, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. Authorities said three people also died in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle.
Another system is coming this week
The National Weather Service said weekend tornado watches had mostly expired, but dangerous winds were still possible in the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida through Sunday.
Another system is moving out of the Rockies and into the Plains in coming days, Chenard said. The threat of winter weather picks up on Tuesday into Wednesday in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, with significant snow and wind bringing hazardous conditions.
To the south across portions of the Plains there will be drier air, bringing fire weather risk.
Recovery efforts
President Donald Trump said the White House was monitoring the storms and would assist state and local officials to help in the recovery. He said National Guard troops were deployed to Arkansas.