Millions of people across the United States, from the South to parts of the upper Midwest, are bracing for heavy rain, high winds, hail, flooding, and other severe weather after a major storm system swept through the region early Thursday.
Tornadoes were reported in Arkansas and Oklahoma late Wednesday night, followed by Indiana and Kentucky early Thursday morning.
According to local television station KFVS and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, one person was killed Wednesday evening in southeast Missouri as a result of severe storms.
According to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide, more than 250,000 customers in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, and Ohio had lost power as of early Thursday morning.
Earlier Wednesday, the National Weather Service warned that the “multi-day catastrophic and potentially historic” event would bring a “barrage of life-threatening” conditions, such as powerful tornadoes and widespread flash flooding.
An NWS map showed Memphis and Little Rock as having a high and moderate risk of severe weather, respectively, while other cities such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville are also expected to experience inclement weather.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm on Wednesday, citing “some of the most serious weather threats I’ve seen.”
The mayor of Little Rock, Ark., announced on social media that the city had canceled the weekly test of its emergency warning sirens, informing residents that any sirens heard on Wednesday would indicate an imminent tornado.
The NWS said the most tornado-prone areas were northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Kentucky, southern Illinois, and southeastern Missouri. Some tornadoes may even reach the EF3 category, which is defined by estimated wind gusts ranging from 136 to 165 mph.
Outside of that high-risk region, other parts of those states, as well as portions of Indiana, Ohio, Mississippi, and Texas, may experience less severe tornadoes, wind gusts, and hail.
NWS forecasters also predict severe thunderstorms in the Great Lakes region, Appalachia, and Texas.
Some areas in that region could receive historic rainfall totals of up to 15 inches over the weekend. The storm front will stall over the area on Thursday, potentially dropping six inches of rain over two days.
Repeated bouts of rain could saturate the soil and exacerbate flooding, forecasters warned. “This isn’t routine,” the NWS Memphis office warned about the upcoming flooding. “This is a rare, high-impact, and potentially devastating event.”
The expected rainfall and flooding may cause “long duration and severe disruptions to daily life” for those in the storm’s path, according to the NWS.
