Communities from Texas to New York are in the process of recovery after a devastating holiday weekend that brought tornadoes, storms, and heavy rain, resulting in at least 24 fatalities and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. This period of severe weather is not yet over for Texas, which is expected to experience more strong and damaging storms through Tuesday.

National Weather Service offices in Kentucky and Arkansas dispatched teams to survey the wreckage. They found damage consistent with EF3-strength tornadoes, the third highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, indicating winds of up to 165 mph. The office in Paducah, Kentucky, is consulting with experts to determine if the tornado should be classified as an EF4, which corresponds to winds between 166 and 200 mph.

Drone footage captured the extent of the storm damage in Paragould, Arkansas, where homes lost roofs and some structures were nearly demolished. In Louisville, Kentucky, the weather service’s damage survey team confirmed that two EF1 tornadoes touched down on Sunday, with wind speeds reaching up to 90 mph.

Despite some repairs to power lines, more than 200,000 energy customers remain without power across Texas and the Midwest, with 82,000 connections lost in Kentucky, according to PowerOutage.us. Spectators sought shelter near Gasoline Alley during a rain delay before the start of the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2024, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Ground stops were implemented at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport on Tuesday morning. A ground stop at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport exacerbated travel chaos over the holiday weekend, with airport delays exceeding 5,000 at one point on Sunday night, according to FlightAware.com’s "Misery Map."

The Transportation Security Administration reported that Friday was the busiest day on record for U.S. airports, with 3 million passengers screened, surpassing the previous record set at Thanksgiving last year. The AAA estimated that around 38 million drivers took to the roads over the weekend, also setting a record.

Memorial Day brought severe, driving rains with very limited visibility to Iowa, as shown in social media videos. Hailstones the size of golf balls pelted vehicles in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas, Texas.

Texas is bracing for “strong to severe” storms expected across much of the state on Tuesday, which may bring significant damaging winds and large hail, according to the weather service. At least 25 million people, including some in Oklahoma, are under weather warnings. “Merging cells and clusters of storms are also likely to contain intense rainfall rates capable of triggering several flash floods, particularly for areas just west of Dallas-Fort Worth and north of Austin,” the weather service said. Thunderstorms and flash flooding could pose hazards from the Texas Panhandle to the Gulf Coast.

A hailstorm on Monday in Hurst, Texas, within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, was so severe that it breached the roof of a Walmart store, prompting shoppers to use nearby products for shelter, as shown in videos uploaded to Instagram.

The extreme heat that has plagued much of Texas and the Gulf Coast, with temperatures reaching triple digits in recent days, is finally easing. However, the heat index, a measure of how hot it feels, could still reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, the weather service reported.

Officials and neighbors in Jackson County, Colorado, mourn the loss of rancher Mike Morgan and 34 cattle, who were killed by a lightning strike on Monday. “It’s not just the family. It’s that broader community in Jackson County,” rancher Janie Vanwinkle told NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver.

As the week progresses, early indications suggest that this hectic and historic tornado season — which saw 461 tornado reports in May alone — may be winding down. The immense scale of devastation, coupled with the loss of life and widespread disruption, highlights the urgent need for preparedness and resilience in the face of increasingly severe weather patterns. Communities are coming together to support each other, but the path to recovery will be long and challenging, requiring coordinated efforts from local, state, and federal agencies.