At least one person was killed Wednesday as strong storms moved through Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon, bringing heavy rain, high winds and hail in some areas. The severe weather came a day after widespread storms ravaged the Midwest, with tornadoes ripping through Michigan.
In northeastern Tennessee's Claiborne County, one person was killed after a tree fell on a vehicle as the storm swept through the area around 10 a.m. local time, the county's emergency management office said.
As storms continued to batter parts of the Midwest and eastern United States on Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a series of tornado warnings in cities in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee.
In Williamson County in southern Illinois, the Weather Service issued a tornado warning after a “confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” was spotted Wednesday afternoon. There were no immediate reports of damage in the area.
Another confirmed “large and destructive” tornado was spotted Wednesday evening near Spring Hill, Tennessee, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Nashville. In a tornado emergencyAccording to the Weather Service, people in the area were in a “life-threatening situation.”
Forecasters said heavier storms were expected from Texas to North Carolina during the evening.
According to the National Weather Service, about 21 million people were at elevated or moderate risk for severe weather on Wednesday — the third and fourth levels of intensity out of five. Storm Prediction Center.
“Don't let your guard down!” the National Weather Service office in Nashville said social media Wednesday afternoon. 'We are now in the 'quiet' for the main line tonight. Our environment is very unstable, so any storm that develops ahead of the line this afternoon could become strong to severe very quickly.”
Here's what you need to know about the storms:
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The most intense storms were expected to hit a corridor that included the cities of Nashville and Clarksville, Tennessee, potentially affecting about four million people with large hail, tornadoes and damaging winds.
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A larger area of about 17 million people, from Texas to North Carolina, including the cities of Memphis, St. Louis and Little Rock, Ark., faces an increased risk of severe weather.
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Heavy rain also led to flash flood warnings in parts of Tennessee and Missouri on Wednesday. Predictors said flooding had already been reported in cities such as Cole Camp and Lincoln in Missouri, and could spread to small creeks, streams, highways and other low-lying areas.
Nearly 50 tornadoes There have been reports from Oklahoma to Ohio over the past two days as severe storms caused damage across the Midwest.
The storms brought strong winds and caused power outages. About 28,000 customers were still without power in Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
One of the hardest-hit counties was Kalamazoo, in southern Michigan, where tornadoes damaged nearly 200 mobile homes and winds were so strong that some homes were blown away. At least 16 people were injured, authorities said, but none seriously.
About 50 workers were rescued from a FedEx depot center in Kalamazoo County after a tornado destroyed the building and left them stranded inside. Authorities in Oklahoma said a tornado as wide as two miles wide caused widespread destruction Monday, killing one person in Barnsdall and damaging up to 40 homes in the small town.
Judson Jones reporting contributed.