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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Severe storms and tornadoes battered Oklahoma early Sunday, tossing cars and ripping roofs off buildings in the middle of the night and leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power. Among numerous injuries, 11 people required hospitalization, authorities said.

Much of the damage was reported in and around the state capital of Oklahoma City, near the state’s center, but also scattered elsewhere around the state. The early morning storms set off tornado warnings that extended south to the Arkansas state line. Heavy rains caused flash flooding in some areas and one lightning-sparked house fire was reported.

More than 99,000 Oklahoma homes and businesses lost power during the overnight storms. By late Sunday afternoon, that number was reduced to around 24,000. No fatalities had been reported.

Richard Thompson, forecast chief for the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma, said he believes six or more tornadoes hit the state overnight. Meanwhile, forecasters warned state residents to brace for more heavy rain and possible severe weather through Monday.

“We’re not done with it yet,” he said.

A tornado watch for much of the central and southeast part of Oklahoma was in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday. Other areas were under thunderstorm or flood watches.

In the town of Choctaw, east of Oklahoma City, firefighters and police officers went door to door Sunday morning to ask about injuries.

“It leveled a complete neighborhood in Choctaw,” the town’s mayor, Chad Allcox, told The Associated Press. He added that debris hindered search and rescue efforts. “Power lines are down everywhere … a lot of the roads are blocked, hard to get through. Very large trees blocking roadways.”

Oklahoma City Fire Department spokesman Scott Douglas told AP that heavy rain and the lingering threat of tornadoes in the early morning darkness complicated early search and rescue efforts. He described a first sweep of hard-hit areas around 1:30 a.m.

“It was a heavy downpour. We were trying to sweep the area with another possibility of a tornado coming through,” he said. “So that was in the back of our minds, too.”

Emergency workers had to free two people from an overturned mobile home, including a woman injured when an air conditioner landed on her leg, Douglas said.

The scale of the damage came into focus as daylight broke. Local television footage showed downed power lines, walls peeled off homes, overturned vehicles and neighborhood streets littered with debris.

Douglas said 11 people were transported to hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening. “There were some other minor injuries, some walking wounded, that were going to get treatment on their own,” Douglas said.

Allcox said early weather warnings and tornado sirens likely saved lives.

A handful of shelters — including one opened at a casino by the American Red Cross — are available for displaced residents or those without power, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.

The Oklahoma Heart Hospital South also sustained damage, state health officials said.

At the University of Oklahoma, school officials had urged students and staff to seek shelter and move to the lowest floor as storms approached the campus after midnight. The National Weather Service office in Norman also issued urgent warnings, posting on social media: “If you’re in the path of this storm, take cover immediately!”

Parts of Oklahoma remained at risk for more heavy rainfall and thunderstorms later Sunday.

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Associated Press reporters Kevin McGill in New Orleans and Jackie Quinn in Washington contributed.

Restaurant chain TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy protection Saturday, saying it is looking for ways to “ensure the long-term viability” of the casual dining brand after closing many of its branches this year.

The Dallas-based company’s Chapter 11 filing in a Texas federal court accelerates a gradual decline for an iconic chain that was once near the center of American pop culture but has seen its customer base dwindle as tastes changed.

The company has boasted that its bartenders trained Tom Cruise for his role in the 1988 film “Cocktail.” Its serving staff’s button-filled uniforms, meant to evoke a fun atmosphere, were later parodied in the 1999 satire “Office Space,” starring Jennifer Aniston.

Rohit Manocha, executive chairman of TGI Fridays, said in a statement that the “primary driver of our financial challenges resulted from COVID-19 and our capital structure.”

Sit-down chain restaurants more broadly have faced challenges in recent years as diners choose to get food delivered or visit upscale fast-food chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack.

In September a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan for the seafood chain Red Lobster after years of mounting losses. Italian American food chain Buca di Beppo filed for bankruptcy protection in August.

Founded in 1965 as a bar on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, TGI Fridays expanded over the following decades to become a ubiquitous suburban gathering spot known for its ribs, potato skins topped with cheese and bacon, and a decor bedecked with red stripes and Tiffany-style lamps.

Its empire peaked in 2008 with 601 restaurants in the U.S. and a $2 billion business, according to Kevin Schimpf, director of industry research at Technomic. Its sales in the U.S. were $728 million in 2023, down 15% from the prior year, according to Technomic.

It now counts 163 restaurants in the U.S., down from 269 last year. It closed 36 in January and dozens more in the past week.

TGI Fridays Inc. said it only owns and operates 39 restaurants in the U.S., which is just a fraction of the 461 TGI Fridays-branded restaurants around the world. A separate entity, TGI Fridays Franchisor, owns the intellectual property and has franchised the brand to 56 independent owners in 41 countries. Those remain open.

A United Kingdom-based franchisee, Hostmore, also sought debt protection in September and abruptly closed locations throughout that country after a failed takeover deal to acquire TGI Fridays.

During the pandemic TGI Fridays made an effort to expand into the delivery market by making itself a hub for so-called ghost kitchens, which have no storefront and only prepare food for delivery. Among the major creditors owed money by TGI Fridays is the delivery service DoorDash, according to Saturday’s bankruptcy court filings.

Another iconic U.S. sit-down restaurant, Denny’s, announced in October that it is closing 150 of its lowest-performing restaurants in an effort to turn around the brand’s flagging sales.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Nearly 200 families gathered Saturday along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border for heartfelt but brief reunions with loved ones they had not seen for years because they live in opposite countries.

Tears flowed and people embraced as Mexican families were allowed to reunite for a few minutes at the border with relatives who migrated to the U.S. Adults and children passed over the Rio Grande to meet with their loved ones.

This year, the annual event organized by an immigrant rights advocacy group happened three days before the U.S. presidential election, whose monthslong campaigns have focused heavily on immigration and border security. It also took place under increased security, according to the Network in Defense of the Rights of Migrants.

“We did not have barbed wire, we did not have so many soldiers deployed in our community,” said Fernando García, the organization’s director, highlighting the border security changes that the border has seen since the reunions began last decade. “The barbed wire had to be opened so that the families could have this event.”

García said he expects migration into the U.S. to continue regardless of who wins Tuesday’s election. Family reunions, he said, will continue, too.

“Deportation policy, border policy, immigration policy, is separating families in an extraordinary way and is deeply impacting these families,” he told reporters ahead of the event.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The final doors are being knocked, ads are blaring and candidates are making a last pitch to voters. Even with the high-energy final push, the races for control of Congress are at a stalemate, essentially a toss-up for the House and fight to the finish for the Senate.

The outcome of Tuesday’s election will shape the country’s future, determining whether the new White House has allies or skeptics on Capitol Hill — or faces a divided Congress like this past session, which has been among the most tumultuous and unproductive in modern times.

As voters assess their presidential options between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, they also are sizing up who will represent them in Congress.

“This is why I’m an independent,” said voter Gary Motta of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who isn’t happy with either choice for president, as he showed up at an early Sunday morning event for Republican Kevin Coughlin, who is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes.

The struggle for control of Congress has gone on for months. Candidates have tussled over the big issues — the economy, the border, reproductive health care and the future of democracy — but also over Congress itself, which had a chaotic session as the GOP-led House ousted its speaker and barely fended off government shutdowns.

This is the first presidential election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and many Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s White House win over Trump are up for reelection.

Republican candidates, many backed by the former president, are finding themselves having to answer for him on several fronts. Among them is the decision by the Supreme Court, with three justices who were nominated by Trump, that ended the right to abortion access

Democrats face tough questions over the Biden-Harris record on the U.S.-Mexico border and on inflation during their time at the White House.

Most of the closely contested House campaigns are being waged beyond the presidential swing states, including in New York and California, where Republican Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as speaker and then left Congress, had made inroads in his home state. Democrats under New York’s Hakeem Jeffries, the party’s House leader, are now trying to win them back.

Starting Saturday, California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the Democratic caucus chairman, is making a nine-stop swing through the Golden State to win back seats.

“There’s a lot of energy out there,” said Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in an interview from Omaha, Nebraska, a surprising battleground, after a swing through New York. “We’re just working hard to get out the vote.”

She said there are “tons of volunteers on the ground, lots of energy, people very, very focused. They understand there’s a lot at stake.”

With the ever-escalating world of campaign fundraising, this election year stands apart: A whopping $2.5 billion is being spent to win the Senate and almost $1 billion on the House.

The Senate is the Republicans’ to lose, a coda to the long stewardship of their party leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He recruited wealthy Republican candidates, many backed by Trump, to face off against a half-dozen incumbent Democrats facing tough reelections.

In Montana, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is in one of the most competitive races in the country that could flip control to Republicans. But a half-dozen more Senate races including in the “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are as tight as the presidential race in those states.

But late-breaking shifts are injecting new uncertainty in other Senate races, putting Sen. Ted Cruz on defense in Republican-heavy Texas where Democratic Rep. Colin Allred has seen a surge of energy, including from Harris’ star-studded rally in Houston with hometown hero Beyoncé. Nebraska independent Dan Osborne has caught Republicans off guard in Nebraska as he tries to unseat GOP Sen. Deb Fischer.

Oher Republican Senate candidates have stumbled.

In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno, who is facing Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, made comments critical of suburban women making abortion access a priority issue. Republican Tim Sheehy made derogatory remarks about Native Americans, a key voting bloc in his race against Tester in Montana.

As Republicans have outsourced their get-out-the-vote efforts to new groups, including Elon Musk’s America PAC, the campaign committees have had to stand up their own to ensure that people vote.

Davide Cuigini, part of the Young Republicans working to turn out the vote for Moreno last weekend in Ohio, said, “Republicans are finally early voting, so that’s gong to make a difference.”

Yet the energy on the Democratic side grew quickly once Harris replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket over the summer..

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland, who could make history alongside Delaware’s Lisa Blunt Rochester as Black women in the Senate, hosted former President Barack Obama last week. Alsobrooks is running against Larry Hogan, a popular former governor.

In the House, Democrats have seen several races shift their way, according to nonpartisan analysts. But others, in Alaska and an open seat in Michigan, tilt toward Republicans. Two of the House’s longest serving lawmakers are in the fights of their political lives in Ohio and California.

Still, a internal DCCC memo showed 21 of 25 contested seats still close, one week from the election.

There are also unusual battlegrounds, including what Nebraskans call the “blue dot” around Omaha, where Republican Rep. Don Bacon faces a challenge from Democrat Tony Vargas.

The outcome of the races will be a test of House leadership under Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. He said at a recent stop near Akron, Ohio, that with the GOP’s “winsome warriors” as candidates, he knows they will win.

Jeffries, in line to become House speaker if Democrats take control, said he has decided to ” remain calm, ” even if the possibility of unexpected events keeps him up at night.

If the two chambers do in fact flip party control, as is possible, it would be rare.

Records show that if Democrats take the House and Republicans take the Senate, it would be the first time that the chambers of Congress have both flipped to opposing political parties.

“This election is a very big deal,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, campaigning for a fellow Democrat in one of his state’s House races.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — It was the hottest September in more than a century in parts of South Florida, and Dwayne Wilson could hear his 81-year-old fellow inmate gasping for breath and crying out for help at the Dade Correctional Institution, 45 miles southwest of Miami on the edge of the Florida Everglades.

The elderly man was confined to a wheelchair and for weeks had been complaining of severe chest pain and difficulty breathing in the unventilated dorm where he was serving his sentence, according to a federal class action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of Wilson and two other inmates at the prison.

Early on the morning of Sept. 24, the wheelchair-bound inmate, who is identified in the lawsuit as J.B., was heard once again begging for help, according to the lawsuit. A prisoner wheeled him to the infirmary, where within 15 minutes medical staff ordered him to return to his cell, according to legal filings.

Soon after, J.B. was found unresponsive, his mouth gaping open, the lawsuit says.

Attorneys said that on the day the 81-year-old died, the exhaust fans in his dorm weren’t working and the heat index had climbed to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). Living in the prison’s unairconditioned cells could feel like “being locked in a sardine can with no air to breathe,” an inmate identified in the lawsuit as G.M. said, and the heat had taken a toll.

The lawsuit filed this week by the prison reform advocacy group Florida Justice Institute says that heat at the facility has contributed to the deaths of four people there and that prison officials have failed to take “meaningful action” to mitigate the risk posed to the elderly and disabled inmates in their care.

The lawsuit, which names the Florida Department of Corrections, the secretary of the department and the warden of DCI as defendants, argues that the conditions violate the protections of the Eighth Amendment, which bar cruel and unusual punishment, as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

“We had to file this lawsuit because they’ve thus far ignored the concerns of incarcerated people and their advocates. And so it appears they need a court to order them to do what they should have done on their own,” said Andrew Udelsman, an attorney with the Florida Justice Institute.

A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said the department doesn’t comment on pending litigation and stated that the agency has no record of being served the lawsuit.

Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization. While deadly heat is not new, scientists say it has been amplified in scale, frequency and duration with climate change. Last year, the United States had its most recorded heat deaths in more than 80 years, according to an Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Yet the majority of incarcerated individuals in sweltering Florida are serving their sentences in cells that don’t have air conditioning, even as the state’s rising temperatures continue to break records. The risk is even greater for the elderly and those with medical conditions that make them more susceptible to heat-related illness.

According to testimony that Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon gave to state lawmakers last year, 75% of the state’s prison housing units are not air-conditioned. Bills filed last year that would have mandated the department install air conditioning in state prisons died in the Republican-controlled legislature.

“When you are in the facility and you visit a dorm that does not have air conditioning, you look at the guards who are tasked with maintaining security in those spaces, it is absolutely oppressive,” Republican State Sen. Jennifer Bradley said at a hearing last October.

“There are things we can do in our system to mitigate the heat. Or Florida will find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit,” she warned. “And it will be a lot more expensive.”

Florida is not alone in facing lawsuits over dangerously hot prisons. Cases have also been filed in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico. One filed in Georgia in July alleged a 27-year-old inmate died after he was left in an outdoor cell for hours without water, shade or ice.

Udelsman said he hopes the Florida lawsuit will help compel the courts to set consistent safety standards for incarcerated individuals at risk of deadly heat exposure, at a time when climate change is compounding the threat for the country’s increasingly aging and invalid prison population.

“Courts are increasingly confirming that these kind of conditions are not constitutional,” Udelsman said. “We hope this lawsuit will be another in that line … that these dominoes will continue to fall.”

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.