A powerful storm system that tore across the United States in recent days is poised to move offshore into the Atlantic Monday, but in its wake are devastated communities across multiple states hit with violent tornadoes, wildfires and dust storms spun off by the massive system.

At least 39 people died in storm-related incidents in seven states, according to officials. Missouri has the highest death toll on record with 12 fatalities, followed by Kansas with eight. Most of Alabama was severely impacted, and at least three died in the state.

“Disaster,” one Alabama resident told CNN, when asked to describe the scene. “I’ve seen nothing like this since I was a kid.”

The remainder of the rain and storms from the system will move offshore from the Mid-Atlantic early Monday and away from the Northeast by the end of the day. The rain and storms across the Northeast are not expected to be severe and will mainly just be a nuisance for the daily hours.

Trail of destruction

The storm unleashed a deadly wave of tornadoes across the central and Southern US since Friday. There have been around 80 tornado reports, with dozens confirmed. Storm surveys will be ongoing for the next few days to get a final tornado count.

The National Weather Service said two EF4 tornadoes tore through Arkansas on Friday, marking the first time in over 25 years that the state has experienced multiple EF4 tornadoes in a single day.

One EF4 tornado, with winds peaking at 170 mph, struck near Larkin in northern Arkansas, while another devastated the town of Diaz with an estimated 190 mph winds, according to the NWS.

Tornados of EF4 strength are labelled as “violent” and can be devastating, easily destroying homes, tossing cars and downing large trees.

At least three people have died in connection with the storms in Arkansas.

In Alabama, three deaths were confirmed in Plantersville, Dallas County, and Winterboro, in Talladega County, as damage assessments continued across more than half of the state’s counties, Governor Kay Ivey said.

“Yesterday’s severe weather impacted most of Alabama,” Ivey said in a statement, offering condolences to the affected communities.

High winds worsened the devastation, with over 710 windstorm reports filed across the central and eastern US. The storms and punishing winds knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses over the weekend, according to PowerOutage.us, a power outage tracking service.

Calera Baptist church members pray before beginning clean up after the church was hit by a tornado on Sunday in Calera, Alabama. – Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images

Fire threat remains

While parts of the South and East start to clean up and survey the damage from the departed storm, the Southern Plains will continue to contend with days of fire weather to start this week. Some of these areas saw numerous wildfires pop up Friday afternoon.

Critical fire weather, or a level 2 of 3 from the Storm Prediction Center, spreads across parts of western Texas and Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas, eastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado on Monday. Elevated fire weather, or a level 1 of 3, spreads from southeastern Arizona to central Texas and extends north to South Dakota.

This fire weather is expected to spread into Tuesday, where the center warns that, “extremely critical conditions will be possible across eastern New Mexico into the Texas Panhandle, possibly extending into western and central Oklahoma for a couple of hours Tuesday afternoon. Fuels in this region have undergone extreme fire weather conditions in the last few days and will be extremely susceptible to fire spread.”

Red flag warnings spread for over 20 million people from New Mexico to Missouri, where gusts to 60 mph and very dry air is possible.

In Oklahoma, wildfires fueled by high winds from the storm system killed four people in separate counties in recent days, according to Keli Cain, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

Among the victims was Allen Ferguson, a youth wrestling coach in Lincoln County who died after suffering severe burns Friday. His son was also critically injured, a family GoFundMe page said.

‘I’ve seen nothing like this’

Cleanup efforts began Sunday in Alpine, Alabama, where volunteers from Revive Church in Talladega were left stunned by the destruction in the storm’s wake.

“Disaster,” said James Stewart, 39, when asked to describe the scene.

“I’ve seen nothing like this since I was a kid,” he told CNN as he raked leaves and debris into piles at the cemetery of Winterboro Community Church. “I’ve seen a few tornadoes in my lifetime, a couple of hurricanes. But other than that, this is pretty bad.”

Across the street, the gymnasium of a school lay in ruins, its roof and front wall torn away, leaving the interior exposed. Outside, a school bus lies on its side, hurled against the building by the storm, with yellow caution tape keeping onlookers at a distance.

The area was strewn with debris: twisted metal, splintered wood and insulation. Nearby, a partially split tree leaned precariously over gravestones at the edge of a cemetery.

Brandon Chittam, another volunteer, estimated that about two dozen people were helping with the cleanup.

“It’s a wreck, but it’s coming together real quick,” he said. “It’s a blessing to have people with God in their life that would reunite together — and not even know one another — to help with the effort of cleaning up.”

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Charles Kelly, pastor of Alpine’s Winterboro Community Church, as he stood in front of his church surveying the damage.

The flipped school bus lodged in the school building is just across the street.

“It’s really amazing that what we’re looking at right here across the road and what we’re looking at behind us is so drastically different,” Kelly said. “… Just by God’s grace, I mean, very, very minimal damage.”

Despite the destruction, Kelly voiced hope in the resilience of his community.

“You’re going to see people at their best in the days ahead, because there’s a lot of things that were lost and damage to some stuff that people care a little bit about, but they’re going to see the best in the most important thing, which is people,” he said.

Amid the wreckage, 16-year-old Trenton Garrett was directing traffic around the damaged school buildings. A junior at the adjacent high school and a member of the volunteer fire department, Garrett said he wanted to serve his community.

“Most people at this age really don’t want to get involved, but I love getting involved in my community,” Garrett said. “These folks don’t have to listen to me, but they are listening. They’re slowing down and they’re going the right way. I just love directing traffic,” he added.

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