At least one person is dead as new rounds of severe thunderstorms are underway and potentially catastrophic flooding risks are brewing in the central and eastern United States on Tuesday. Storms led to more than 700,000 power outages across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast by evening.
Some of the most severe weather Tuesday evening was observed in southeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania as high winds – with some wind speeds stronger than a low-level tornado – tore through the region, ripping trees out of the rain-soaked soil. A man in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was electrocuted by live wires Tuesday, the city’s public safety department reported.
The threats come on the heels of Monday’s storms, which unleashed damaging wind gusts, hail bigger than baseballs, and tornadoes.
Severe weather impacted more than a dozen states Tuesday from Texas to New York, with Missouri being the hardest hit earlier in the day. More of the same is expected to unfold as multiple rounds of storms move through the Southern Plains, Mississippi Valley and Northeast throughout the evening.
A massive, 1,800-mile stretch of the US from West Texas to Vermont is within a level 2-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms on Tuesday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Two smaller but more significant level 3-of-5 risks are in place for parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York and portions of Texas and Oklahoma.
The first round of storms Tuesday morning impacted areas from northern Texas to southern Kansas and then pushed east into Missouri, but the storm system focused on western Pennsylvania in the evening.
Severe thunderstorm warnings and several tornado warnings populated across the state Tuesday evening, causing more than 566,000 power outages as winds whipped through the area, Poweroutage.us shows. Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, reported “multiple regional phone system disruptions” as a result of the power outages, adding emergency services were coordinating with utility companies to get power restored.
Allegheny County encouraged residents to stay home as “dangerous conditions persist.” The National Weather Service Pittsburgh office said destructive wind damage was seen across southern Ohio and into western Pennsylvania, with some locations seeing wind gusts over 80 to 90 mph. These winds are “stronger than many of the smaller EF-0 & EF-1 tornadoes we typically see in this region, but for a much, much wider area,” the NWS office said.
A powerful line of storms in southwestern Missouri 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 more than 60,000 homes and businesses in the state without power as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Poweroutage.us.
Another round of storms started up in the early afternoon in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas, while a separate area of thunderstorms unleashed up to 70 mph wind gusts in Indiana and Ohio – where more than 50,000 customers were without power late Tuesday afternoon.
Additional strong to severe storms are possible throughout the day, with the strongest storms possible by the evening in the Southern Plains.
Storms in this area could produce large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. They could also dump rounds of heavy rain, putting the risk of dangerous flooding on the table in what forecasters warn could become a multi-day flood event.
A level 3-of-4 risk of flooding rain is in place for parts of northern Texas and much of Oklahoma – including Oklahoma City and Tulsa – according to the Weather Prediction Center. The area is primed for widespread flash flooding that could become life-threatening in some instances, the WPC warned.
Rounds of heavy rain over the past few weeks have drenched the ground and made it vulnerable to flooding as the soil won’t be able to soak up any excess moisture. In Oklahoma, flash flooding from storms the weekend prior prompted high-water rescues and left at least five people dead.
Flash flooding was already ongoing in the Oklahoma City area Tuesday morning, and the situation will only deteriorate there and in nearby areas as additional storms hit the area.
Southwest Oklahoma could experience “locally catastrophic” flooding, the National Weather Service warned.
Storms were also developing farther north Tuesday afternoon in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and even as far as Ontario, Canada.
Damaging wind gusts are the main threat with these storms, but some could drop large, egg-sized hail and tornadoes through the evening.
Stormy weather and periods of heavy rain will persist Wednesday, with a level 3-of-4 risk of flooding rainfall in place for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas.
A few severe thunderstorms are possible in the Southern Plains on Wednesday, but widespread chances of damaging storms fade for the rest of the week.
CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward and CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report
