A slow-moving and active storm system unleashed a barrage of severe weather, including heavy rain, large hail, and tornadoes, impacting parts of Texas and Oklahoma. This tumultuous weather left three individuals dead, and severe weather warnings remain in effect for numerous regions across the south-central and Midwest United States.

On Easter Sunday, communities in both Texas and Oklahoma began the daunting task of assessing the damage inflicted by the tornadoes that struck over the weekend. According to Bob Oravec, the lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center, there were 17 reported tornado events on Saturday alone. In south-central Oklahoma, five of those tornadoes were confirmed, with one particularly devastating tornado striking a small town that was still in the recovery phase from a previous tornado in March.

The storm system also dumped substantial rainfall across a wide area, covering north-central Texas and central-eastern Oklahoma, where accumulations ranged from 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) from Saturday into Sunday. This deluge contributed to significant flooding, prompting emergency responses in multiple communities.

In Moore, Oklahoma, located approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Oklahoma City, police reported receiving dozens of calls related to high-water incidents over the weekend. Emergency responders encountered stranded vehicles, including two cars caught in flood waters on Saturday evening. Tragically, one vehicle was swept away under a bridge, leading to the recovery of a woman and a 12-year-old boy, both of whom were found dead. This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city, the Moore police stated in a Sunday report. The city of Moore has a population of about 63,000 residents.

In addition to the fatalities in Moore, another individual lost their life approximately 80 miles (129 kilometers) to the southeast when a tornado touched down in Spaulding, as reported by the Hughes County Emergency Management. Their social media update indicated that several homes and structures were destroyed in the tornado's wake, along with numerous washouts affecting county roads in the area.

The National Weather Service conducted a preliminary assessment of the tornado damage and classified one tornado as at least EF1, with wind speeds ranging between 86 and 110 mph (138 to 177 kph). This classification applied not only to the tornado in Spaulding but also to another tornado that touched down south of Oklahoma City in Love County.

Oravec noted that the storm system was largely stationary over Texas and Oklahoma on Saturday, subjecting these regions to a persistent and active thunderstorm pattern that resulted in large hail, flash flooding, and tornado occurrences. Bill Macon, the emergency management director for Oklahoma's Marshall County, described the tornado's path as having skipped and jumped around, traversing a distance of 6 to 7 miles (about 10 to 11 kilometers) in a rural area. His early assessments indicated that at least 20 homes were damaged, with some completely destroyed.

Fortunately, Macon reported that many residents were at home when the late-night tornado struck, causing significant damage, including downed huge trees and numerous electric poles, yet there were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities. Macon expressed the seriousness with which they regard the National Weather Service's warnings, emphasizing their importance in such dangerous situations.

One town in Oklahoma, Ada, which had been in the process of rebuilding from an earlier tornado in March, faced another round of severe weather late Saturday. The northern side of Ada, a town with a population of approximately 16,000 residents, experienced damage that preliminary assessments indicated was consistent with at least an EF1 tornado. Social media footage depicted roofs being torn from businesses, storefront windows shattered, and billboards knocked sideways.

In a video shared on Facebook, Jason Keck, the Ada director of emergency management, mentioned that the tornado appeared to traverse across the northern part of town toward a shopping center, causing extensive damage to buildings, power lines, and trees. Reports indicated that one clothing store sustained severe damage but was flanked by intact structures on either side.

Additionally, at least two tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in west Parker County, Texas, as stated by the countys emergency services on their social media platform. Emergency crews responded to multiple houses that had been stripped of their roofs, resulting in homes being left exposed to the elements. In dramatic imagery, one detached roof was found smashed across a driveway, illustrating the violent nature of the storm.

As Sunday progressed, the storm system began to move northeast, but it remained active, generating risks of hail, strong winds, and heavy rainfall in Arkansas, Missouri, southern Illinois, and southeastern Iowa. Thousands of residents in Missouri were reported to be without power as the storm continued to wreak havoc.

By late Sunday afternoon, while heavy rain was beginning to taper off in Texas and Oklahoma, Oravec warned that additional heavy rainfall was anticipated across various parts of the Plains in the coming week. With rivers already swollen and the ground saturated from the previous rains, there remains a significant risk of further flooding in the affected areas.