At least 5 dead in Texas after severe weather sweeps across Texas and Oklahoma, authorities say

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Powerful storms across Texas and Oklahoma obliterated homes and struck a highway travel center where drivers had rushed to take shelter, leaving thousands of people without power and a wide trail of damage Sunday. A sheriff said at least five people were dead in one rural community in Texas and many more were injured.

The destructive storms began Saturday night and included a tornado that overturned heavy recreational vehicles and shut down an interstate near Dallas. Officials said multiple people were transported to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter in the Texas county of Denton but did not immediately know the full extent of injuries.

In neighboring Cooke County, Sheriff Ray Sappington told The Associated Press that the five dead included three family members who were found in one home near Valley View, a rural community near the border with Oklahoma.

“We do have five confirmed (dead), but sadly, we think that that number is probably going to go up,” Sappington said. ”There’s nothing left of this house. It’s just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe.”

Forecasters had issued tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings for parts of both states, as some heat records were broken during the day in South Texas and residents received triple-digit temperature warnings over the long holiday weekend.

In Arkansas, damaged buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines were reported across the northwest edge of the state. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses reported power outages. Benton County Judge Barry Moehring confirmed one death.

The destruction continued a grim month of deadly severe weather in the U.S.

Tornadoes in Iowa this week left at least five people dead and dozens injured. The deadly twisters have spawned during a historically bad season in the country for tornadoes, at a time when climate change is heightening the severity of storms around the world. April had the second-highest number of tornadoes on record in the country.

Late Saturday, a tornado crossed into northern Denton County in Texas and overturned tractor-trailer trucks, stopping traffic on Interstate 35, Denton County Community Relations Director Dawn Cobb said in a statement.

The tornado was confirmed near Valley View, moving east at 40 mph (64 kph), prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for northern Denton County, Cobb said.

The storm damaged homes, overturned motorhomes and knocked down power lines and trees throughout the area including points in Sanger, Pilot Point, Ray Roberts Lake and Isle du Bois State Park, Cobb said.

People who suffered injuries in the storm were transported to area hospitals by ground and air ambulances, but the number of injuries in the county was not immediately known, Cobb said, while a shelter was opened in Sanger.

The fire department in the city of Denton, about 37 miles (59.5 kilometers) north of Forth Worth, Texas, posted on X that emergency personnel were responding to a marina “for multiple victims, some reported trapped.”

The Claremore, Oklahoma, police announced on social media that the city about 28 miles (45 kilometers) east of Tulsa was “shut down” as a result of storm damage including downed power lines and trees and inaccessible roads.

Earlier Saturday night, the National Weather Service's office in Norman, Oklahoma, said via the social platform X that the warning was for northern Noble and far southern Kay counties, an area located to the north of Oklahoma City. “If you are in the path of this storm take cover now!” it said.

A following post at 10:05 p.m. said storms had exited the area but warned of a storm moving across north Texas that could affect portions of south central Oklahoma.

At 10:24 p.m., the weather service office in Fort Worth posted a message warning residents in Era and Valley View they were in the direct path of a possible tornado and to immediately seek shelter. The Forth Worth office continued to post notices and shelter warnings tracking the movement of the storm through midnight and separately issued a severe thunderstorm warning with “golf ball sized hail” possible.

The weather service office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, warned on X of a dangerous storm moving across the northeast part of the state through 2 a.m. and issued severe thunderstorm notices for communities including Hugo, Boswell, Fort Towson, Grainola, Foraker and Herd.

Excessive heat, especially for May, was the danger in South Texas, where the heat index was forecast to approach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) in some spots during the weekend. Actual temperatures will be lower, although still in triple-digit territory, but the humidity will make it feel that much hotter.

The region is on the north end of a heat dome stretching from Mexico to South America, National Weather Service meteorologist Zack Taylor said.

Sunday looks like the hottest day with record highs for late May forecast for Austin, Brownsville, Dallas and San Antonio, Taylor said.

Brownsville and Harlingen near the Texas-Mexico border already set new records Saturday for the May 25 calendar date — 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), respectively — according to the weather service.

April and May have been a busy month for tornadoes, especially in the Midwest. Iowa was hit hard last week, when a deadly twister devastated Greenfield. And other storms brought flooding and wind damage elsewhere in the state.

The storm system causing the severe weather was expected to move east as the Memorial Day weekend continues, bringing rain that could delay the Indianapolis 500 auto race Sunday in Indiana and more severe storms in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.

The risk of severe weather moves into North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, forecasters said.

This Thursday, May 23, 2024 satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows destruction in Greenfield, Iowa after a Tuesday, May 21 tornado. (Maxar Technologies via AP) Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

This Thursday, May 23, 2024 satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows destruction in Greenfield, Iowa after a Tuesday, May 21 tornado. (Maxar Technologies via AP) Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

This combination of Oct. 22, 2022 and May 23, 2024 satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows destruction in Greenfield, Iowa after a Tuesday, May 21 tornado. (Maxar Technologies via AP) Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

This Thursday, May 23, 2024 satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows destruction in Greenfield, Iowa after a Tuesday, May 21 tornado. (Maxar Technologies via AP) Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

A person crosses Caroline Street in the afternoon heat Saturday, May 25, 2024, near Discovery Green in Downtown Houston. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

High winds associated with the morning severe weather overturned this semi-trailer on Interstate 280 west of Davenport, Iowa on Friday, May 24, 2024. Several tornadoes were reported in Iowa and Illinois as storms downed power lines and trees on Friday, just after a deadly twister devastated one small town.(Roy Dabner/Quad City Times via AP)

Severe storm clouds move across the northwest edge of Davenport, Iowa on Friday, May 24, 2024. Several tornadoes were reported in Iowa and Illinois as storms downed power lines and trees on Friday, just after a deadly twister devastated one small town.(Roy Dabner/Quad City Times via AP)

Severe storm clouds move along Interstate 80 at the northwest edge of Davenport, Iowa on Friday, May 24, 2024. Several tornadoes were reported in Iowa and Illinois as storms downed power lines and trees on Friday, just after a deadly twister devastated one small town.(Roy Dabner/Quad City Times via AP)

Margaret Cantu waits in the heat for food and water from volunteers Saturday, May 18, 2024, at Sam Houston Math, Science and Technology Center in Houston. "I'm trying to forget the storm, it really scares me," she said. Cantu, 68, lives with her 70-year-old husband. She said they don't have power. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A spctator cools herself with a small electric fan as temperatures climb into the high 90s Fahrenheit while she and friends watch the Team USA cricket match against Bangladesh, part of a three-game T20I series at the Prairie View Cricket Complex, Saturday, May 25, 2024, in Houston. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Sheaka Morshed wears sunblock on his face as temperatures climb into the high 90s Fahrenheit while watching the Team USA cricket match against Bangladesh, part of a three-game T20I series at the Prairie View Cricket Complex, Saturday, May 25, 2024, in Houston. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A person crosses Caroline Street in the afternoon heat Saturday, May 25, 2024, near Discovery Green in Downtown Houston. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries on Monday gave final approval to a major and long-awaited plan to better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc, a divisive issue after months of protests by farmers who argued that EU environmental and climate laws were driving them toward bankruptcy.

After surviving a razor-thin vote by lawmakers last summer, the so-called Nature Restoration Plan faced opposition from several member states, leaving the bill deadlocked for months.

The law, which aims at restoring ecosystems, species and habitats in the EU, was finally adopted at a meeting of environment ministers at Luxembourg after rallying the required support from a qualified majority representing 15 of the 27 member states and 65% of the EU population. Austria's decision to finally support the plan helped to break the stalemate.

“This is the final step before this law can enter into force,” said the Belgian presidency of the EU Council.

The Nature Restoration plan is a part of the EU’s European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world’s most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets, and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues.

Under the plan, member states will have to meet restoration targets for specific habitats and species, to cover at least 20% of the region’s land and sea areas by 2030.

“The result of hard work has paid off,” said Belgian environment minister Alain Maron. “There can be no pause in protecting our environment. The EU Council makes the choice to restore nature in the EU, protecting its biodiversity and our living environment.”

Austria’s environment minister, Leonore Gewessler, voted for the plan after months of domestic political debate. The move by Gewessler, a member of the Green party, infuriated the senior partner in the coalition government — Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservative Austrian People’s Party — ahead of a national election set for Sept. 29.

“My conscience tells me unmistakably (that) when the healthy and happy life of future generations is at stake, courageous decisions are needed,” Gewessler wrote on social network X.

Ahead of the vote, the chancellery said Nehammer informed the Belgian EU presidency that a vote in favor of the plan by Gewessler would be unlawful, the Austria Press Agency reported. Nehammer’s office said after the decision that Austria will file a suit at the European Court of Justice to nullify the vote.

In the buildup to the EU elections that saw a shift to the right earlier this month, European farmers complained about the many environmental laws governing the way they work, arguing that the rules were harming their livelihoods and strangling them with red tape.

Environmental organizations and a coalition of big companies insisted last year the legislation was crucial to tackle both climate change and nature loss. But the plan lost some of its progressive edge during negotiations because of fierce opposition from the EU Parliament's main political group EPP, which along with other conservatives and the far right has insisted the plans would undermine food security, fuel inflation and hurt farmers.

Greenpeace said a failure by EU governments to approve the law would have been embarrassing ahead of the next UN biodiversity meeting in Colombia in October.

“Despite the weakening of the law, this deal offers a ray of hope for Europe’s nature, future generations and the livelihoods of rural communities,” said Greenpeace biodiversity campaigner Špela Bandelj Ruiz. "Healthy ecosystems offer protection against extreme weather, water shortages, and pollution.”

Associated Press reporter Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

FILE - A man walks on a path during a protest against large-scale government logging in the Bialowieza Forest, Poland, Aug. 13, 2017. European Union countries on Monday, June 17, 2024, gave final approval to a major and long-awaited plan to better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc. After surviving a razor-thin vote by lawmakers last summer, the so-called Nature Restoration Plan faced opposition from several member states for months amid relentless farmers’ protests that contributed to leave the bill in a deadlock. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)

FILE - A water meter stands in a dry wetland in Donana natural park, southwest Spain, on Oct. 19, 2022. European Union countries on Monday, June 17, 2024, gave final approval to a major and long-awaited plan to better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc. After surviving a razor-thin vote by lawmakers last summer, the so-called Nature Restoration Plan faced opposition from several member states for months amid relentless farmers’ protests that contributed to leave the bill in a deadlock. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)