Another day of extreme weather is unfolding in the United States on Wednesday after violent storms roared through more than a dozen states on Tuesday and turned deadly, bringing hurricane-strength wind gusts, massive hail and tornadoes.
A derecho — a long-track storm with destructive winds — tore across the Midwest with wind gusts as high as 90 mph that ripped trees out of the rain-soaked soil and roofs off several buildings. At least four people died in Pennsylvania and some cities sustained notable damage, including the Pittsburgh area.
Additional rounds of thunderstorms were slamming the Plains throughout Wednesday and continued to ramp up an already serious flood threat.
Thunderstorms in Texas and Oklahoma left at least one person dead and prompted severe thunderstorm warnings and more than 300 miles of continuous flash flood warnings from southeast of Lubbock, Texas, to southeast of Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning.
In the Dallas area, departures to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field were delayed Wednesday because of the thunderstorms, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Nearly 900 flights within, into or out of the US were canceled Wednesday, including hundreds at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, according to flightaware.com.
A man died in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, after a vehicle was swept off a road because of flooding Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
First responders conducted a dozen swift-water rescues overnight in Lawton, Oklahoma, according to Kyle Nyhart, the city’s assistant fire chief. Lawton is about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
Floodwater levels continued to rise in parts of the city Wednesday afternoon, with at least three neighborhoods under voluntary evacuation notices. First responders are putting up barricades to prepare for severe flooding Wednesday evening near a local creek that could potentially split Lawton in two, according to a city news release.
“The water is no joke. What looks like a little bit of water can end up being a serious hazard,” Nyhart warned in a video update.
In Lexington, Oklahoma – about 30 miles south of Oklahoma City – authorities evacuated at least five homes by late Wednesday morning as flooding worsened, emergency management director Max Punneo told CNN.
As extensive flooding hit Wewoka, Oklahoma, there had been four water rescues within about three hours Wednesday morning, Wewoka Fire Chief Kevin Green told CNN. He said creeks and rivers reached just underneath bridges and large oak trees were uprooted. “I haven’t seen flooding through the county like this in years,” Green said.
Portions of nearly a dozen state highways in Oklahoma were closed due to flooding as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the state’s Department of Transportation.
It’s been an extremely wet month for Oklahoma and deadly flooding has plagued the state in recent weeks. As of Wednesday afternoon, Oklahoma City has picked up a foot of rain since the start of the month, marking it as the wettest April on record. The city normally gets less than 4 inches in April.
Flooding could quickly become life-threatening as rainfall totals continue to rise.
A level 3-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall is in place for parts of Texas – including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex – Oklahoma and Arkansas, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
Severe thunderstorms were rumbling through parts of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon. These storms will pose a threat for damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes – some of which could be EF2 or greater – into the evening.
Derecho delivered hurricane-strength wind gusts Tuesday
Storms unleashed violent winds with gusts up to 90 mph across a path of more than 500 miles from eastern Indiana through much of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, leaving an extensive trail of damage in its wake.
A 59-year-old man in Pittsburgh was electrocuted by live wires from downed power lines Tuesday, the city’s police department said. A 67-year-old man was also killed in Allegheny County – where Pittsburgh is located – after he was struck by a falling tree, according to a news release from the Ross Township Police Department.
Another man was killed in Greene County on Tuesday evening after high winds knocked a tree onto his vehicle during the storm, Pennsylvania State Police confirmed to CNN. And a 22-year-old man was attempting to put out a mulch fire when he was electrocuted near a utility pole, police in Centre County said in a news release.
Allegheny County, where a state of emergency has been declared, reported “multiple regional phone system disruptions” and briefly had 911 outages in the evening as a result of extensive power outages from the derecho.
At least two school districts outside Pittsburgh are closed Wednesday and several others are delayed following reports of damage, according to CNN affiliate WTAE.
More than 300,000 homes and businesses in Pennsylvania and more than 21,000 in Ohio were still without power Wednesday evening, according to PowerOutage.us.
Triple-digit wind gust recorded in Texas as storms slammed the South
Parts of the Southern Plains and Mississippi Valley also got rocked by severe weather Tuesday.
A powerful line of storms in southwestern Missouri on Tuesday morning sent wind gusts up to 90 mph roaring through Springfield and produced a few brief tornadoes in nearby areas. Fierce winds brought down trees and power lines, leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power by the afternoon.
Violent storms roared through Texas later Tuesday afternoon. A storm near Guthrie, Texas, in the northwest portion of the state, dropped massive hail up to 5 inches in diameter, which is bigger than a grapefruit.
About 60 miles east of Guthrie, a different storm produced a 106 mph wind gust near Seymour, Texas, just a couple hours later.
A wind gust that strong is more at home in a Category 1 or 2 hurricane and is the second triple-digit gust felt in western Texas in recent weeks.
CNN Meteorologist Monica Garrett, CNN’s Alex Stambaugh and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.
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