Severe Storms Sweep Across The Midwest

Severe storms that killed eight in Oklahoma continue their move east into Ohio Valley as they race toward the East Coast.

A series of severe storms ahead of a cold front continued to sweep across the Midwest section of the country Wednesday evening, the same storms that killed eight individuals Tuesday night in Oklahoma where three tornadoes roared through that state. The storms with strong high winds and flooding continue to make their way across the eastern United States. Winds ahead of the cold front run from twenty to thirty miles per hour with wind gusts of up to seventy miles per hour in some locations. Tornado and severe thunderstorm watches and warnings were issued for parts of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The storms are expected to slide into the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday evening at the latest. Reports are over 6,000 people have lost power in Indianapolis, Indiana at the height of the storm as well flooding across the central portion of the state. High winds blew a mobile home over a roadway in Lafayette in Tippecanoe county. Earlier in western Kentucky, winds braced near hurricane force gusting up seventy-three miles per hour, knocking down power lines and trees in its path. The storms have shifted east having moved through eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio and the western portion of West Virginia. Straight-line winds have been the main causes of damage from this storm front with the ever-present threat of tornado formation. In the aftermath of the storm, Oklahoma’s Governor Brad Henry has declared a state of emergency for seventeen Oklahoma counties. The counties in that declaration include Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Garvin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan, Love, Murray, Oklahoma, Pawnee, Payne, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Nowata, Osage and Washington. The Lone Grove tornado that killed eight is considered the deadliest tornado in the state since 1999. On May 1st of that year, over forty deaths occurred in the central part of that state.