Severe weather battered several states Tuesday, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses, killing at least one person and potentially spawning tornadoes.
Parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia and Georgia will be under a tornado watch through Tuesday night, while Wisconsin will be hit by a spring snowstorm. I was worried.
A 46-year-old homeless woman from Tulsa who had taken shelter in a drainage pipe is believed to have died as a storm in northeastern Oklahoma spawned three suspected tornadoes and dumped heavy rain.
Associated Press correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on a severe weather pattern across the Midwest that will soon reach New England this week.
Tulsa Fire Department spokesman Andy Little said the woman's boyfriend told authorities that the two had fallen asleep at the entrance to a drain and were awakened by flooding. Up to 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) of rain fell in about an hour in Tulsa, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Darby said.
“There wasn't that much. But once it happened, it was pretty rapid,” Darby said.
About 140,000 West Virginia customers were without power as of Tuesday afternoon, about 14% of all customers tracked in the state. power outage.us. In Charleston, the storm blew off part of the roof of a vacant building, littered the streets with bricks and closed roads. Trees were uprooted and lying on roads, lawns and, in some cases, cars.
Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency in several counties and urged people to “exercise extreme caution.”
Firefighters in Ohio rescued two people trapped under a bridge as a river began to rise Tuesday morning. According to a report from the Columbus Fire Department, the two men were sleeping when the Scioto River started rising and were unable to return to shore. A fire department boat was dispatched to rescue them. No injuries were reported.
Mindy Broughton rushed into her mobile home Tuesday morning as hail and winds picked up at the RV park where she lives near Hanging Rock, Ohio.
Broughton and his fiancée crouched down as the mobile home immediately began to shake. Broughton said her fiancé put his body on the line to protect her as the wind was howling outside.
“I said I might die today,” she said.
In just a few seconds the wind died down. Broughton opened the door to his mobile home and saw the RV park littered with debris and his overturned RV. Fortunately, Broughton said no one was inside the mobile home that overturned.
A section of Interstate 75 northeast of Cincinnati was closed Tuesday afternoon to about six vehicles. Telephone pole knocked down by strong winds near Wetherington, WLWT-TV reported.
In Wisconsin, forecasters warned that more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow could fall in the eastern part of the state, including the Green Bay area. Megan Wolf, the state's top elections official, urged residents planning to vote in Tuesday's presidential primary to consider voting earlier in the day to avoid travel difficulties. .
Snowfall totals ranged from 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) in central Wisconsin and 8 to 14 inches (20 to 35 centimeters) in eastern Wisconsin, with wind gusts ranging from 30 mph to 30 mph, according to the National Weather Service. At speeds up to 80 km/h (which can reach 50 mph (48 km/h)), visibility is very limited and movement becomes difficult.
“Just three weeks ago, we were in the 70s. So people thought spring was just around the corner, and now we're in April and we're having a big snowstorm,” the Bureau of Meteorology said. said Scott Cultis, a meteorologist with the Green Bay office. “As people say, 'It's spring in Wisconsin.'”
More than 70,000 homes and businesses in Wisconsin were without power Tuesday night, news agencies announced. power outage.us.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Tuesday morning after severe storms battered the state.
“Significant damage has been reported to numerous structures, but thankfully there are no fatalities at this time,” Beshear said in a statement.
Another round of storms formed Tuesday afternoon, prompting multiple tornado warnings in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio.
One person was injured and taken to the hospital after a tree fell on a home in Lexington, Kentucky. Mayor Linda Gorton told WLEX-TV.. Homes were damaged and a tree crushed a University of Kentucky student's car.
“I looked out the blind and saw the wind start to howl,” Reece Sherrard told the news outlet. “You can see the big tree just fell on my car. I guess I was pretty lucky because the tree didn't fall on my house either.”
On Tuesday night, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg reported “severe” storm damage in the nearby city of Prospect and throughout the county, but said no injuries were reported. He said firefighters were checking on people street by street in the worst-hit areas and a county-wide state of emergency had been declared.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in northeast Tennessee on Tuesday. A funeral home and a home were damaged in Sunbright, a town of about 500 people, Morgan County 911 Director Matthew Brown said. Power lines and trees were down, and some roads were closed.
A power company in Memphis, Tennessee, reported that about 40,000 homes and businesses were temporarily without power after a substation was struck by lightning, which subsequently affected two other substations, Tuesday morning. .
The storm also hit far southwest Indiana on Tuesday morning, knocking down trees and knocking out power, causing several local school districts to cancel classes. More than 18,000 homes and businesses were without power just before noon Tuesday, including in Vanderburgh County, where Evansville, Indiana's third-largest city, is located.
Severe weather is expected in New England from Wednesday night into Thursday, with 12 to 18 inches (30 to 46 centimeters) of snow falling in parts of New Hampshire and Maine, and falling in other areas, the National Weather Service said. It is expected to be less than that. Wind gusts could reach 80km/h in some places, and power outages were possible.
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Associated Press reporters Ken Miller (Oklahoma City), Rick Callahan (Indianapolis), Leah Willingham (Charleston, W.Va.), John Raby (Cross Lanes, W.Va.), Adrian Sainz (Memphis, Tenn.); Beatrice Dupuis in New York, Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington contributed to this report.