- The storm cracked from rural areas of Texas to Michigan.
- The NWS said the storm “has just begun for many days of catastrophicity.”
- McNairy, of Obion County, reported two weather-related deaths.
The National Weather Service warned Thursday that “generational” flooding in the southern and midwest U.S. was flooded with a group of people from Texas to Michigan swept the country, whipping the tornado and killing two people.
At least 19 tornadoes hit Wednesday, destroying homes and businesses, injured at least eight people and knocked down hundreds of thousands of powers.
This is just “the beginning of a catastrophic and potentially historic heavy rain event,” the NWS said.
Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi are threatened by “generational flooding events”, with some locations predicting rainfall up to 15 inches (38 cm) over the weekend, which could cause the river to rupture its banks.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported two weather-related deaths in McNerry and Obiang counties. Four people were injured in Craighead County, Arkansas, and four others were injured, including a serious person, when they were injured at a church in Ballard County, Kentucky, according to local officials.
Railroad company BNSF said it had received a report on a cargo train derailment near the Bay of Storm City, Arkansas, but no reason was specified.
Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee declared a state of emergency late Wednesday.
Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and parts of Texas were at high risk of severe thunderstorms on Thursday, warning of more tornados, hail and life-threatening floods, the National Weather Service said.
“Tonight’s words were ‘chaotic’,” NWS meteorologist Scott Kleebauer said Wednesday. “It’s a lot of storms that stretch from southeast Michigan to southeast Arkansas.”
The Missouri Emergency Management Department said a tornado that struck Nevada Township, Nevada, “had a significant damage to several businesses, snapped up power poles, and several (empty) trains were flipped to their side…”
According to PowerOutage.us, the power of more than 400,000 customers has been phased out throughout the storm zone.
