Several homes and businesses lost power on Tuesday intense weather passed through multiple states, causing at least one death and leading to possible tornadoes.
About 140,000 customers in West Virginia were without power on Tuesday, which is about 14% of all tracked customers in the state by poweroutage.us. Wisconsin was expecting over a foot of snow from a spring snowstorm.
Northeastern Oklahoma was heavily impacted, with a strong weather system producing three suspected tornadoes. These storms also caused the death of a 46-year-old homeless woman in Tulsa who died inside a drainage pipe, according to police.
Tulsa Fire Department spokesperson Andy Little stated that the woman and her boyfriend had sought shelter at the entrance of the drainage pipe. The boyfriend reported that they were awakened by the flood waters. National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Darby mentioned that Tulsa received up to 1.5 inches (3.81 centimeters) of rain in just one hour before moving northeastward.
Darby stated, "The rainfall wasn't significant, but it was quite rapid."
In Ohio, firefighters rescued two people trapped under a bridge early Tuesday as the waters of an Ohio river began to rise, and forecasters warned of more intense weather on the way.
The pair were sleeping under the bridge around 8:45 a.m. when the Scioto River started to rise, and the Columbus Fire Department reported they were unable to return to shore due to flooding, prompting the fire department to send a boat for their rescue.
No one suffered injuries.
Mindy Broughton, 49, quickly sought shelter in her mobile home in southern Ohio as hail and strong winds began at the RV Park where she has lived for two years near Hanging Rock.
Broughton and her partner sought refuge as the mobile home began to shake. She mentioned that her partner protected her as the winds raged outside.
She said, "I thought today might be our last day."
The winds calmed down in a matter of seconds. Upon opening the mobile home door, she saw the wreckage left behind. The RV Park was filled with debris and overturned RVs. Fortunately, she mentioned that there was no one inside the overturned mobile homes visible in her Facebook Live video.
A neighbor told Broughton that he had witnessed a funnel cloud. The National Weather Service of Charleston, West Virginia, had issued a tornado warning for the Mid-Ohio valley on Tuesday morning.
Following the storm, Broughton went to a nearby American Legion building. She stated that she does not plan to stay in the area in case the weather worsens.
Severe storms also affected far southwestern Indiana on Tuesday morning, resulting in fallen trees and power outages, which led to several local school districts canceling classes for the day. Over 18,000 homes and businesses were without power shortly before noon on Tuesday, including in Vanderburgh County, where Evansville, Indiana’s third-largest city, is located.
People in Wisconsin were getting ready for a spring snowstorm that forecasters said could drop more than 12 inches of snow in the eastern areas of the state, including the Green Bay area. Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top election official, advised residents planning to vote in Tuesday’s presidential primaries to consider voting earlier in the day, based on their local forecast, to avoid travel problems.
The National Weather Service stated that snowfall totals could vary from 4 to 8 inches in central Wisconsin and 8 to 14 inches in eastern Wisconsin. Wind gusts of 30 mph to 50 mph would cause very poor visibility and make travel challenging. Meteorologist Scott Cultice from the weather service’s Green Bay office said the storm would bring “a very heavy, wet snow” to central and eastern Wisconsin, but it's not unusual for early April in the state.
Cultice said,“Just three weeks ago we were enjoying 70-degree weather, so that got people thinking spring is on its way — and here we’re in April and we’re getting a major snowstorm. As people say, `That’s springtime in Wisconsin.’ ”
In West Virginia, a storm blew off part of a vacant building’s roof in downtown Charleston, scattering bricks on the street and closing the roadway to traffic Tuesday afternoon. Trees were uprooted and laid in roads, lawns and in some cases, on top of cars.
Gov. Jim Justice said his team is monitoring damage across the state.
“We know power lines, trees, and debris are in the roadways, and I urge everyone to proceed with caution,” he wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency after severe storms swept through the state Tuesday morning and another round was forecast later in the day. The storms brought tornado warnings, heavy rain and wind along with hail and lightning.
“We have reports of substantial damage to a number of structures – and thankfully, as of right now we are not aware of any fatalities,” Beshear said in a statement. “We need all Kentuckians to stay weather aware as we brace for more severe weather throughout the afternoon and evening.”
Because of upcoming weather conditions, all executive branch state office buildings were closed Tuesday afternoon. Some universities across the state also canceled in-person classes Tuesday afternoon and evening due to the approaching weather.
Forecasters issued a tornado watch for northeast Mississippi, north Alabama, middle Tennessee and parts of western Tennessee that runs until 9 p.m. Central Standard Time.
The utility company in Memphis, Tennessee, reported that about 40,000 homes and businesses lost power Tuesday morning after an electric substation was struck by lightning, which then affected two other substations. Memphis, Light, Gas and Water said power to the substations was restored by 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. The company reported about 1,900 outages on Tuesday afternoon.
The storm was expected to move into New England Wednesday night into Thursday, with forecasts of 12 to 18 inches of snow in parts of New Hampshire and Maine and lesser amounts in other areas, the National Weather Service said. Wind gusts could reach 50 mph (80 kph) in some places, bringing the possibility of power outages, the service said.
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