Severe storms in South and Midwest turn deadly

Violent storms chopped done a wide swath of the South and Midwest, spawning tornadoes and sidesplitting astatine slightest 2 people, knocking down powerfulness lines and trees and ripping roofs disconnected homes.

Dozens of tornado and terrible thunderstorm warnings were issued Wednesday successful parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi arsenic storms deed those and different states successful the evening. Numerous imaginable twisters were reported successful the South overnight, peculiarly successful Tennessee and Kentucky.

Forecasters attributed the convulsive upwind to daytime heating combining with an unstable atmosphere, beardown upwind shear and abundant moisture streaming into the nation's midsection from the Gulf.

Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri Highway Patrol said astatine slightest 1 idiosyncratic was killed successful southeast Missouri, CBS Cape Girardeau affiliate KFVS-TV reported, portion portion of a warehouse collapsed successful a suburb of Indianapolis, temporarily trapping astatine slightest 1 idiosyncratic inside. In northeast Arkansas, a uncommon tornado exigency was issued arsenic debris flew thousands of feet successful the air.

The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed to CBS News that the authorities had 2 weather-related fatalities, 1 successful McNairy County, extracurricular Memphis, and the different successful Obion County, successful utmost northwest Tennessee.

  Lightning strikes arsenic storms determination done the Ashland City, Tenn. country connected April 2, 2025.  George Walker IV / AP

"Once successful a generation" downpours forecast

The coming days were besides forecast to bring the hazard of perchance deadly flash flooding to the South and Midwest arsenic terrible thunderstorms blowing eastward go supercharged. The potent tempest strategy volition bring "significant, life-threatening flash flooding" each time done Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

With much than a ft of rainfall imaginable implicit the adjacent 4 days, the prolonged deluge "is an lawsuit that happens erstwhile successful a procreation to erstwhile successful a lifetime," the upwind work said. "Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible."

More than 90 cardinal radical were astatine immoderate hazard of terrible upwind successful a immense portion of the federation stretching from Texas to Minnesota and Maine, according to the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.

Ryland Mosley, 18, who was connected the 2nd level of his location erstwhile a tempest passed, stands extracurricular observing the harm connected April 2, 2025, successful Owasso, Okla.  Mike Simons / Tulsa World via AP

Hints of what could travel  

A tornado exigency - the upwind service's highest alert - was concisely declared astir Blytheville, Arkansas, connected Wednesday evening, with debris lofted astatine slightest 25,000 feet, according to Chelly Amin, a meteorologist with the service.

A tornado was besides reported connected the crushed adjacent Harrisburg, Arkansas, successful the evening.

The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported that determination was harm successful 22 counties owed to tornadoes, upwind gusts, hail and flash flooding. At slightest 4 radical were injured, but determination were nary reports of fatalities arsenic of Wednesday evening.

In Kentucky, a tornado touched down Wednesday nighttime astir Jeffersontown, a suburb of Louisville, passing the Interstate 64 and Interstate 265 interchange, according to the upwind service.

Four radical were injured successful Kentucky erstwhile a religion was deed by debris from a suspected tornado, according to Ballard County Emergency Management. One idiosyncratic was successful captious condition, portion the others person non-life-threatening injuries.

In Brownsburg, Indiana, wherever portion of a warehouse collapsed, the constabulary section told radical to not question done the city. Five semitrucks were blown implicit connected Interstate 65 adjacent Lowell, Indiana, authorities constabulary reported.

Indianapolis Public Schools announced a distant learning time Thursday owed to powerfulness outages astatine aggregate buildings. At slightest 10 districts successful Indiana person canceled oregon delayed in-person classes Thursday.

The municipality of Delta, successful confederate Missouri, which has nether 400 people, had downed powerlines and trees, and damaged buildings. Road entrances to the municipality were blocked off. School was canceled for the remainder of the week arsenic the Red Cross and an electrical inferior took implicit a parking batch astatine the precocious school.

"There is excessively overmuch harm successful town," Superintendent David Heeb posted online. "We request to springiness our families a accidental to regroup and instrumentality attraction of the things they request to absorption connected close now."

In Pilot Grove, Missouri, respective structures were damaged, cars flipped implicit and powerfulness poles were snapped, the authorities exigency absorption bureau said. Minor injuries were reported, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Authorities successful eastbound Missouri were trying to find whether it was a tornado that damaged buildings, overturned vehicles and tore down inferior poles, histrion limbs and concern signs successful the greeting successful and astir the metropolis of Nevada.

Another tornado touched down successful the northeastern Oklahoma metropolis of Owasso connected Wednesday, according to the upwind service. There were nary contiguous reports of injuries, but the twister heavy damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down powerfulness lines, trees, fences and sheds.

Power was knocked retired to much than 330,000 customers successful Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee arsenic of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

A enactment of thunderstorms dropped dense rainfall done parts of Indiana connected Wednesday night. At slightest 1 thoroughfare was flooded successful Indianapolis, with h2o astir reaching the windows of respective cars, according to the city's metropolitan constabulary department. No 1 was successful the vehicles.

Additional rounds of dense rainfall were expected successful parts of Texas, the little Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley from midweek done Saturday. Forecasters warned that they could way implicit the aforesaid areas repeatedly, producing unsafe flash floods susceptible of sweeping cars away.

Middle Tennessee was looking astatine terrible storms followed by 4 days of dense rains arsenic the beforehand stalls retired and sticks astir done the weekend, according to NWS meteorologist Mark Rose.

"I don't callback ever seeing 1 similar this, and I've been present 30 years," Rose said. "It's not moving."

Rain totaling up to 15 inches was forecast implicit the adjacent 7 days successful northeastern Arkansas, the southeast country of Missouri, occidental Kentucky and confederate parts of Illinois and Indiana, the upwind work warned, with immoderate areas successful Kentucky and Indiana astatine an particularly precocious hazard for flooding.