Trump activates National Guard in tornado-ravaged Arkansas

President Donald Trump on Sunday activated the National Guard in tornado-struck Arkansas after tornadoes and heavy winds ripped through multiple states over the weekend, leaving at least 37 dead.

Heavy winds tore through the Heartland on Saturday, threatening Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma with tornadoes, damaging buildings and homes. Northern states, including South Dakota and Minnesota, faced blizzard warnings.

“We are actively monitoring the severe tornadoes and storms that have impacted many States across the South and Midwest — 36 innocent lives have been lost, and many more devastated,” Trump said in a Sunday post on X. 

“The National Guard have been deployed to Arkansas, and my Administration is ready to assist State and Local Officials, as they help their communities to try and recover from the damage. Please join Melania and me in praying for everyone impacted by these terrible storms!” the president wrote.

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The National Guard tweeted that its Arkansas officers will “support civilian authorities providing security and humanitarian assistance in communities affected by tornadoes in central and eastern Arkansas.”

Here are the number of deaths by state so far:

• Alabama: 3
• Arkansas: 3
• Mississippi: 6
• Missouri: 12
• Oklahoma: 1
• Texas: 4
• Kansas: 8

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there were about 50 National Guardsmen and 40 state police on the ground in Arkansas on Sunday.

“As you drive through this community, you see so many neighbors coming out, taking care of each other,” she said in a video posted to X. “One of the things that will make you so proud as a governor is to see neighbors helping neighbors, and never is that more true than right here in this community today. We’ve got about 40 state police on the ground in the county, about 50 National Guard.”

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In a post on X, Sanders said she spoke with Trump on the phone, who “said to tell the people of Arkansas he loves them and he and his administration are here to help with whatever we need following last night’s tornadoes.”

Missouri resident Dakota Henderson told The Associated Press that he and some others helped rescue neighbors trapped beneath rubble on Friday evening and found five bodies in the process.

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“It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night,” Henderson told AP on Saturday.

Evacuations were ordered Friday for some areas in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.

Strong winds caused wildfires in the Southern Plains, and severe storms and tornadoes were also possible across eastern Louisiana, western Georgia, central Tennessee, western North Carolina and South Carolina, and the western Florida Panhandle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.