Tornadoes, hail, power outages sweep across US as intense storms roll east: Updates
More than 400,000 homes and businesses in five states were without power in the latest bout of severe weather that has left at least 2 dead.
Nearly 300,000 homes and businesses in five states remain without power Monday as severe weather blasted a corridor from Texas to Michigan with damaging winds, hail, and possible tornadoes.
Tornado sightings were reported in Missouri, Tennessee, and Michigan as a warm front collided with colder air. Tens of millions of residents through the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and central Gulf Coast can expect more large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes on Monday, the National Weather Service warned.
Multiple deaths on Sunday were blamed on the storm. A truck driver was killed in Valparaiso, Indiana, when strong winds blew over his vehicle. Another person was killed in Indiana Sunday evening when strong winds from a thunderstorm blew over an Amish buggy, the National Weather Service in Northern Indiana reported, citing information relayed by the Elkhart County Emergency Management officials.
In Michigan, where nearly 235,000 customers were without power as of 9 p.m. ET on Monday, three people were killed in a car crash in Kalamazoo County after a downed tree hit a vehicle. And a man was killed in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, when a storm knocked a tree onto a mobile home.
Extensive power outages stretched across Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana, along with Louisiana and Mississippi.
Accuweather warned that while a line of storms across the Southeast may ease Monday afternoon, a separate line may develop later in the day and advance across Virginia and the Carolinas. Richmond, Virginia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida, are forecast to face intense storms on Monday as the storm system heads to the coast.
Second storm forming in West
A secondary storm will begin to shift out of the Rockies and across the Plains from early to midweek, AccuWeather said. The greatest chance for severe weather comes Tuesday as the storm gathers energy and becomes more organized across the Central states.
Another round of tornadoes, large hail, and destructive wind gusts is forecast for Wednesday — again from northeastern Texas to Michigan.
"Wednesday could end up being a carbon copy of Sunday, in terms of storm position and expected intensity," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bill Deger.
Winter storm heading for the Midwest
A late-season winter storm is brewing in the Central Plains and will likely strike the Dakotas and parts of Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Weather Service warned.
More than 8 inches of heavy and wet snow is predicted to fall in the hardest hit areas, and an icy wintry mix could cause hazardous travel conditions in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, the agency said. Nathan Jeruzal, a forecaster for the weather service in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said forecasters are keeping an eye on the next system.
"It will all change to rain by noon Wednesday, and late in the afternoon into the evening, we're expecting possible additional storms, and some of those could be locally severe," he added.
Damaging winds would be the main threat, but forecasters can't rule out large hail or an isolated tornado or two, Jeruzal said.
Three killed in Michigan car crash amid severe weather
Three people were killed in a crash near Climax, in Michigan's Kalamazoo County, as strong storms moved through the area Sunday and a felled tree hit a car, the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported citing the National Weather Service, police and news reports.
The storm prompted more than 130 reports of downed trees, wires, and other hazards, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office said on social media. Police warned more trees weakened by winds and wet soil would likely fall.
The weekend weather brought a wave of fierce thunderstorms, freezing rain, and high winds to Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and swept across Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada in waves, leaving at least an inch of ice on trees in some places.
The National Weather Service in Gaylord issued an ice storm warning on Friday for Emmet, Cheboygan, and Presque Isle counties. On Saturday the weather service shared photos on social media of the ice-covered trees and warned "freezing rain continues to fall."
Contributing: Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press; Ken Palmer, Lansing State Journal
(This story was updated to add new information.)