DETROIT (AP) – Severe storms continued to barrel through the United States (US) Midwest early yesterday, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes that forecasters warned could spill out of the region.
The tornadoes were first spotted after dark on Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.
As the storms raged on in the pre-dawn hours yesterday, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh warned that a tornado in northeastern Ohio could cross into Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were also under a tornado warning.
Hours earlier in southwestern Michigan, two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo on Tuesday night, destroying homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility that was ripped apart.
There were no serious injuries immediately reported, but city officials said in a news release that the twisters knocked out power to more than 20,000 people. Most of them would be without power until late yesterday, city officials said.
At one point, about 50 people were trapped inside the FedEx facility because of downed power lines. But company spokesperson Shannon Davis said late on Tuesday that “all team members are safe and accounted for”.
Tuesday’s storms came a day after parts of the central US were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.
On Monday night, a deadly twister in Oklahoma tore through the small 1,000-person town of Barnsdall. At least one person was killed and another was missing. Dozens of homes were destroyed.
Aerial videos showed homes reduced to piles of rubble and others with roofs torn off. The twister tossed vehicles, downed power lines and stripped limbs and bark from trees across the town. A 65-hectare wax manufacturing facility in the community also sustained heavy damage.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who toured the twister’s damage on Tuesday, said it was rated by weather researchers as a violent tornado with winds reaching up to 322 kilometres per hour. Stitt said he and legislative leaders have agreed to set aside USD45 million in this year’s budget to help storm-damaged communities.
“Oklahomans are resilient,” Stitt said, “and we’re going to rebuild.”
The powerful storms come amid a wild swing in severe weather across the globe that includes some of the worst-ever flooding in Brazil and a brutal Asian heat wave.
Across the US, the entire week is looking stormy. The eastern US and the South are expected to get the brunt of the bad weather through the rest of the week, including in Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St Louis and Cincinnati – cities where more than 21 million people live. It should be clear over the weekend.
