Forecasters warned of dangerous storms in the U.S. after yesterday’s storm produced damaging tornadoes and large hail, killing two people in Tennessee and one in Charlotte, North Carolina. It warned that waves could move through parts of the south early Thursday.
The storm continues to produce heavy rain and tornadoes this week, moving across the United States from the Plains to the Midwest and now into the Southeast.
At least four people have been killed by the storm since Monday.
Amid Wednesday’s storm, the National Weather Service continued to issue tornado warnings past midnight for North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Kentucky.
Parts of Arkansas and Mississippi were also under a tornado watch before dawn.
The storm that hit northeast Tennessee on Wednesday brought strong winds and knocked down power lines and trees.
Sheriff Bob Brooks of Claiborne County, about an hour north of Knoxville, said the 22-year-old man in the car was struck and killed by a tree.
A second person died in Columbia, Maury County, and the National Weather Service said a tornado was likely. Columbia is just south of Nashville.
Maury County 911 Deputy Chief Lynn Thompson said homes were damaged and people were injured.
Thompson said he could not provide further details and said he was “overburdened at the moment.”
Morley Regional Health spokeswoman Rita Thompson said the hospital had admitted five patients, including the deceased. One person was in serious condition, and three others had non-life-threatening injuries.
The storm also prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ground Nashville International Airport, and the National Weather Service issued the highest level of tornado emergency for neighborhoods south of the state capital, including Chapel Hill and Eagleville. did.
Meanwhile, torrential rain and thunderstorms prompted water rescues northeast of Nashville.
“Do not attempt travel unless you are evacuating an area at risk of flooding or have been ordered to evacuate,” the National Weather Service warned when it issued a flash flood emergency.
In North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared Wednesday night in Gaston County, west of Charlotte, after a massive storm brought down power lines and severed trees, including one that fell on cars.
One person in the car died and the other was taken to the hospital, officials said.
After heavy rain, strong winds, hail and tornadoes battered parts of the central United States on Monday, storms pounded the region on Wednesday, including a deadly storm that tore through an Oklahoma town and killed one person. It also included a twister.
And on Tuesday, the Midwest bore the brunt of the severe weather.
The National Weather Service said tornadoes touched down in parts of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana on Tuesday.
In Michigan, tornadoes swirled across the southwest part of the state in and around Kalamazoo County, according to the National Weather Service. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for four counties.
In the Portage area of Kalamazoo County, a FedEx facility was destroyed and about 50 people were temporarily trapped indoors due to downed power lines.
Travis Wyckoff said he ventured out Tuesday night after seeing radar show a tornado had touched down in the Portage area, rescuing an elderly couple from a partially destroyed home and a service dog from another home. .
“A lot of people were running down the street trying to find people and pets,” Wyckoff said. “It was really chaos.”
In neighboring Pavilion Township, more than a dozen homes were destroyed and 16 people were injured at a mobile home park, Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said.
Samantha Smith clutched a box outside her mother’s partially destroyed home in Pavilion Township Wednesday afternoon. Inside the box was her grandmother’s ashes.
Recovering his most cherished items gave Smith a rare moment of relief amidst the devastation of the storm. She said her parents and her brother were injured in the storm but survived.
“I thanked God probably a billion times since this happened yesterday,” she said.
“My children are healthy and strong. I just have to get back what I lost.”
Tornadoes were also confirmed in Pennsylvania, central Arkansas, and northern West Virginia outside of Pittsburgh.
The West Virginia twister was at least the 11th tornado this year in the state, which typically sees two tornadoes each year.
Both the Plains and Midwest were hit by tornadoes this spring.
