Powerful storm unleashes severe weather across the US; possible tornado damage assessed: Updates

A major storm is expected to bring rain and snow to some parts of the Northeast early Thursday after the system threatened the South and Ohio Valley with severe weather that spawned tornadoes and damaging winds.

More than 361,000 households across West Virginia, Wisconsin, New York, and other states remained without power Wednesday night, according to a database maintained by USA TODAY. In Indiana, where severe weather swept across parts of the state, including two confirmed tornadoes, nearly 7,800 utility customers had no power.

There were reports of possible tornadoes in Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky, where a family of five was rescued after being trapped under an overturned mobile home, according to local television station 14 News.

The National Weather Service of Louisville, Kentucky, preliminarily confirmed five tornadoes on Wednesday and said crews would survey several areas with reported damage.

The severe weather has caused at least two deaths. A young man in Campbell County, Kentucky, died in a traffic accident during Tuesday’s storms, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Wednesday. KJRH-TV reported that a 46-year-old unhoused woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, died after seeking shelter in a storm drain.

“It was like a freight train going through,” said Shaminda Hubert, who took refuge in his basement with his wife, Irangi, and their dogs, Luna and Brownie, when a powerful storm rolled through Louisville, Kentucky, around 6 p.m. Their home was not damaged, but they lost three trees, including a cherry tree that had stood for generations.

As residents in the Ohio Valley were cleaning up, millions of others in the upper Midwest and eastern United States were bracing for possible severe weather on Wednesday. A tornado watch has been issued for parts of northern Florida and southeastern Georgia. An area from West Virginia to southern New York was under a flood watch, and a large swath of New England was under winter storm warnings as more than 1 to 2 feet of snow was anticipated by late Thursday.

Heavy snow is also forecast across parts of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Upper Great Lakes, including northern Michigan, where a blizzard warning was in effect, according to the National Weather Service. At least 6 to 12 inches of snow was expected from central to eastern Wisconsin along with blizzard warnings across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Meteorologists anticipate the storm will move over the mid-Atlantic Coast by Thursday evening and northeastward to the Gulf of Maine by Friday, according to the weather service.

Heavy, wet snow expected for portions of Northeast

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings and advisories for several states in the Northeast, where 7 to 18 inches of snow was forecast for some areas.

"The wet and clinging nature of the snow will weigh down trees and power lines," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg said.

Strong, damaging winds and heavy rain also hit several states in the region. Coastal flood warnings and watches were issued in areas from Maine to New York, according to the weather service.

Rain and snow began falling throughout the region Wednesday evening, and the weather service warned that severe conditions were expected to last through Thursday.

"Snowfall accumulations of 1 to 2 feet are likely for much of northern New England," the weather service said. "Heavy snow and gusty winds will result in dangerous travel with whiteout conditions and snow-covered roads."

New York weather map

Kentucky residents assess damage from tornado

Phil Parish fled to the basement of his home in Prospect, Kentucky, with his wife and dogs when it felt like a “freight train” was approaching his house, just outside Louisville.

When they emerged shortly afterward, it was clear that the neighborhood had been hit hard. His house was not damaged, but the storm toppled five pine trees in his front yard and many others down the street. The National Weather Service of Louisville confirmed an EF-1 tornado had touched down in Prospect on Tuesday.

According to the weather service, the winds surveyed in Prospect reached 105 mph. The service also observed 100 mph in Jeffersonville, Indiana, but surveyors are working to determine if that is the same storm that impacted Prospect.

"These are preliminary findings, and we still have yet to determine whether it is from a single tornado or more than one," the weather service said on X, formerly Twitter.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the storm, with an impact “consistent with a tornado,” hit three subdivisions in the Prospect area. Other areas affected by the storm include Anderson and Nelson counties, where Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed tornadoes touched down, along with Southern Indiana.

Parish’s neighbor, Megan Feria, narrowly missed big damage as well. She lost trees in her yard, and her parents’ home down the street was hit by a falling tree. No one was hurt though, a positive conclusion after a tense ride home for her husband. She was on the phone with him as he drove back from his job while she watched the storm approach through a window in her house.

“He was on his way home from work coming up River Road and was like, ‘Oh, this does not look good,’” Feria told The Courier-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, as she cleared fallen trees from her yard. “Then I saw all of our flowers that we had hanging on the back were gone. I was like, ‘I should probably head to the basement now.’”

Thunderstorms to hit Northeast and Southeast

The large storm system will also bring showers and severe thunderstorms across the mid-Atlantic and parts of the southeast, meteorologists said.

The weather service's slight risk of severe thunderstorms warned that frequent lightning, strong wind gusts, hail and "a few tornadoes" were possible Wednesday and Thursday.

Conditions in the southeast and mid-Atlantic are expected to subside by Friday, the service said.

Widespread flood watches were in place from the upper Ohio Valley into the Central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic as the heaviest rainfall totals are forecast in those areas.

US weather watches and warnings

National weather radar

Storm falls on 50th anniversary of 1974 ‘Super Outbreak’

The devastating storm Wednesday falls on the 50th anniversary of the 1974 tornado “Super Outbreak,” which wreaked havoc in 13 states across the Eastern U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

The 1974 disaster produced the second-largest outbreak of tornadoes on record, the NOAA said, and included seven EF-5 tornadoes – the most in a single day. The onslaught of more than 100 tornadoes killed 335 people, injured over 6,000 others and caused $600 million in damage.

The NOAA said the 1974 disaster served as “the catalyst for a major overhaul” of the National Weather Service, spurring modernization of the agency’s observational technology.

Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY; Lucas Aulbach, Ana Rocío álvarez Brí?ez, Rachel Smith, Eleanor McCrary, Louisville Courier Journal; Karl Schneider, Indianapolis Star

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Severe storms rip across United States with tornadoes, power outages