LAKE CITY, Ark. (AP) — Tornadoes and violent winds flattened homes and ripped apart buildings from Oklahoma to Indiana in the first round of storms that are expected to bring record-setting rains and life-threatening flash floods across the nation’s midsection in the coming days.
At least six people were killed in western Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana in the first wave on Wednesday and early Thursday that spun off powerful tornadoes — one launching debris nearly 5 miles above the ground in Arkansas.
Homes along the highway that crosses through Lake City, Arkansas, had completely collapsed, their brick walls crushed and roofs gone. Three cars were tossed into trees. Workers were using bulldozers to clear debris.
“I don’t really know how to explain it,” said Cody Ferguson, who hid in a storm shelter with neighbors while the twister roared above them. “Just real loud rumbling, a lot of bangs, debris.”
The home he had built from the ground up was destroyed, and he said a neighbor from across the street was seriously injured.
Among the deaths, at least four people were killed in western Tennessee, including a man and his teenage daughter whose home was destroyed, and an Indiana man who died after his pickup truck struck downed powerlines.
Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued from Texas to West Virginia.
Potentially deadly flash flooding was also forecast for the South and Midwest as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged. The potent storm system will bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” each day through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.
With more than a foot of rain possible over the next four days, the prolonged deluge “is an event that happens once in a generation to once in a lifetime,” the weather service said. “Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible.”
Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.
Water rescue teams were being staged across the region and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to distribute food, water, cots, generators and meals.
More than 90 million people were at risk of severe weather across an area stretching from Texas to Minnesota and Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.
Tornadoes touch down, and more could be coming
A tornado emergency, the weather service's highest alert, was briefly declared around Blytheville, Arkansas, on Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers), according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported damage in 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind gusts, hail and flash flooding.
Volunteer firefighters and police officers in Lake City, Arkansas, searched through rubble and rescued people overnight. Residents were without electricity and some were also without water, Mayor Cameron Tate said in a Thursday morning Facebook post.
In far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, said the emergency management office in Ballard County. Multiple buildings and homes were badly damaged from what appeared to have been a tornado, the agency said.
Warehouse collapse is part of damage in Indiana
Two workers were injured on Wednesday when the roof and a wall collapsed at a Sur La Table distribution center in Brownsburg, Indiana, a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Emergency crews worked for several hours to free a trapped worker there.
“It was just heavy debris that had fallen on top of her,” Brownsburg Fire Department spokesperson Kamrick Holding told WTHR-TV. “She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The woman was conscious and talking during the rescue. Her condition was not immediately known.
Five semitrucks were blown over on Interstate 65 near Lowell, Indiana, state police reported.
At least 10 districts in Indiana canceled or delayed in-person classes on Thursday. Indianapolis Public Schools announced a remote learning day due to power outages at multiple buildings.
A tornado touched down in the northeastern Oklahoma city of Owasso on Wednesday, according to the weather service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the twister heavily damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down power lines, trees, fences and sheds.
More than half a million customers in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas were without power as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
Floods could inundate towns, sweep cars away
Additional rounds of heavy rain were expected in parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley from midweek through Saturday. Forecasters warned that they could track over the same areas repeatedly, producing dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping cars away.
Rain totaling up to 15 inches was forecast over the next week in northeastern Arkansas, the southeast corner of Missouri, western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, the weather service warned, with some areas in Kentucky and Indiana at an especially high risk for flooding.
Tornadoes touch down, and more could be coming
A tornado emergency, the weather service's highest alert, was briefly declared around Blytheville, Arkansas, on Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported damage in 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind gusts, hail and flash flooding.
Volunteer firefighters and police officers in Lake City, Arkansas, searched through rubble and rescued people overnight. Residents were without electricity and some were also without water, Mayor Cameron Tate said in a Thursday morning Facebook post.
In far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, said the emergency management office in Ballard County. Multiple buildings and homes were badly damaged from what appeared to have been a tornado, the agency said.
Two workers were injured at a Sur La Table distribution center in Brownsburg, Indiana, that was significantly damaged in the storm Wednesday, a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Emergency crews worked for several hours to free a trapped worker at the distribution center, where the roof and a wall collapsed.
“It was just heavy debris that had fallen on top of her,” Brownsburg Fire Department spokesperson Kamrick Holding told WTHR-TV. “She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The woman was conscious and talking to a doctor during the rescue and was taken to a hospital. Her condition was not immediately known.
Five semitrucks were blown over on Interstate 65 near Lowell, Indiana, state police reported.
Indianapolis Public Schools announced a remote learning day Thursday due to power outages at multiple buildings. At least 10 districts in Indiana have canceled or delayed in-person classes Thursday.
The town of Delta, in southern Missouri, which has under 400 people, had downed powerlines and trees, and damaged buildings. Road entrances to the town were blocked off. School was canceled for the rest of the week as the Red Cross and an electric utility took over a parking lot at the high school.
“There is too much damage in town,” Superintendent David Heeb posted online. “We need to give our families a chance to regroup and take care of the things they need to focus on right now.”
A tornado touched down in the northeastern Oklahoma city of Owasso on Wednesday, according to the weather service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the twister heavily damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down power lines, trees, fences and sheds.
Power was knocked out to more than 330,000 customers in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
Floods could inundate towns, sweep cars away
A line of thunderstorms dropped heavy rain through parts of Indiana on Wednesday night. At least one street was flooded in Indianapolis, with water nearly reaching the windows of several cars, according to the city's metropolitan police department. No one was in the vehicles.
Additional rounds of heavy rain were expected in parts of Texas, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley from midweek through Saturday. Forecasters warned that they could track over the same areas repeatedly, producing dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping cars away.
Middle Tennessee was looking at severe storms followed by four days of heavy rains as the front stalls out and sticks around through the weekend, according to NWS meteorologist Mark Rose.
“I don’t recall ever seeing one like this, and I’ve been here 30 years,” Rose said. “It’s not moving.”
Rain totaling up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) was forecast over the next seven days in northeastern Arkansas, the southeast corner of Missouri, western Kentucky and southern parts of Illinois and Indiana, the weather service warned, with some areas in Kentucky and Indiana at an especially high risk for flooding.
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Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Isabella O'Malley in Philadelphia; and Ed White in Detroit.