(CNN) — A long-lasting line of storms with damaging winds — known as a derecho — tore across the Midwest Tuesday while other powerful storms hit the central Appalachians. It’s the latest in a multiday severe weather and flash flood threat that has killed at least one person and knocked out power for over one million homes and businesses.
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Clusters of storms have sparked severe thunderstorm, flash flood and tornado warnings across these regions, including in Chicago, much of Tuesday. At least two tornadoes were observed across Illinois and Iowa, with more likely to be confirmed later in the week as soon as the weather allows survey teams to investigate.
Multiple rounds of storms will fire up and track over these same areas over the next several days with extreme rainfall rates that could deliver more than a month’s worth of flooding rain in hours.
Amid the storms, some National Weather Service offices, including in Jackson, Kentucky, experienced communications issues, hindering them from distributing weather warnings in a timely fashion. CNN has reached out for more information.
Here’s the latest:
- Destructive winds: The derecho brought wind gusts over 75 mph across a 300-mile-long stretch of the Midwest, from northeast Iowa to northern Indiana. Hurricane-force wind gusts over 90 mph were clocked in parts of Chicago, and Columbus, Ohio, experienced gusts over 80 mph as the storms tore through those areas. Additional clusters of storms through this evening could down trees and knock out power from Indiana and Ohio to eastern Kentucky and the central Appalachians.
- Death in Indiana: A 4-year-old child died in southeastern Indiana on Tuesday after a tree fell on a house in Geneva Township, according to Cody Low, chief deputy for the Jennings County sheriff’s department. The child was “either entrapped or injured” when the 911 call came in around 3:30 p.m., but when responders arrived they found the child dead in the home, Low told CNN.
- Widespread power outages: More than one million homes and businesses across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia were without power Tuesday evening, according to PowerOutage.us. Outages in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio alone topped 900,000.
- Flash flood emergency: Water rescues were reported Tuesday morning in Perry County, Ohio, the state’s emergency management director told CNN. Videos on social media showed rescuers in rafts navigating powerful currents of water coursing through the streets of Crooksville, a village in the county. A rare flash flood emergency – the highest level of flash flood warning – was issued there early Tuesday after about a month’s worth of rain fell in 3 hours. New rounds of heavy rain arrived later in the morning, threatening to worsen the flooding.
- Rescues in Pennsylvania: Flooding damaged homes, vehicles, roads and a railroad around Confluence, Pennsylvania, local officials said. Ten people were rescued from a flooded home near Confluence Tuesday morning, fire chief Tyler Byrd told CNN. Another person was also rescued from the roof of a vehicle, he said. The area saw 3 to 5 inches of rain over several hours early Tuesday.
Hundreds forced from homes amid Ohio flooding
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in both Perry and Muskingum counties Tuesday afternoon and activated a National Guard high-water rescue unit for those areas. He said he expects other counties will be added to the emergency declaration as the storms play out in coming days.
One person died in Roseville, which straddles both counties, after suffering an emergency and first responders were unable to reach them, DeWine said at a news conference Tuesday. Roseville “is completely surrounded by water,” the governor added, while stressing that the multiday threat from the storms applies across Ohio.
“We are in a very dangerous weather situation that really involves all of Ohio. It is unusual to see this, but danger can be anywhere in the state,” DeWine warned.
As of Tuesday morning, around 200 people were forced to leave or were unable to access their homes after floodwater rose 6 to 10 feet in low-lying areas of Perry County, Ohio Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Sima Merick told CNN. Flooding also overtopped two bridges there.
Two swift water rescue teams from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources were deployed to assist with rescues Tuesday morning, according to Merick, joining response teams from adjacent counties. Multiple roads in Perry County were closed due to high water, according to Ohio transportation department spokesperson Chas Cosgrave.
More rounds of storms to come
Flash flooding is possible through Tuesday night in a stripe from Chicago to Baltimore and Washington, DC, but the most serious threat is in parts of the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians.
That’s where a Level 3 of 4 threat of flooding rainfall has been issued that includes Charleston, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, and eastern portions of Indianapolis.
A slow-moving front interacting with juicy tropical air is causing the stormy pattern. Rainfall rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour are possible in the most intense downpours.
Such extreme rainfall is becoming more common in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture that storms can tap into and ring out in more intense spurts.
Many of the same areas at risk for flooding on Tuesday are also seeing intense storms with winds capable of tearing down trees and knocking out power.
The most widespread destructive wind potential through the rest of Tuesday afternoon and evening will play out from parts of Indiana, Ohio and eastern Kentucky to the central Appalachians. Wind gusts over 75 mph are possible in a few spots. The tornado risk is low, but one or two are possible.
The flood threat zone will remain largely unchanged on Wednesday and Thursday. Areas where the ground is already waterlogged because of storms earlier in the week will be even more prone to flooding.
Storm totals could top 6 inches in locations the storms pummel on more than one day this week. Some places could even pick up those totals in a matter of several hours.
Flooding impacts could become more serious and damaging in locations that see these higher rainfall totals.
Over 6 inches of rain is close to double the average August rainfall of 3.43 inches in Cincinnati and 3.75 inches in Charleston, West Virginia.
For others, some roads are likely to flood and creeks and streams could also overflow their banks. Urban, low-lying and poor drainage areas as well as the mountainous parts of West Virginia will be most prone to flooding.
The risk of heavy rain lasts into Friday in some areas, but the wet pattern should ease up this weekend when storm-killing high pressure arrives.
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