US death toll from extreme weather rises to 36

Portions of Pennsylvania, New York and Mid-Atlantic and South-east states in the United States were still under a National Weather Service watch for damaging wind and tornadoes, as the death toll from weekend storms rose to 36 people across six states, Reuters reported.

In a White House statement, President Donald Trump said he was monitoring the tornadoes and storms, adding that “36 innocent lives have been lost, and many more devastated”.

Mr Trump announced that the National Guard had been deployed to Arkansas and pledged help to state and local officials.

The storms that hit the South and the Midwest headed east on March 16.

More than 340,000 consumers had no power in the affected areas as at the late afternoon on March 16, according to the website PowerOutage.

Missouri reported the largest number of deaths – 12 fatalities spanning five counties, the state’s highway patrol posted on social media platform X. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe said there was still one person missing in the state, which saw widespread destruction across 27 counties.