Photos: Deadly tornadoes tear through central US
Powerful storms killed at least two people in the central United States on Tuesday as nearly 30 reports of tornadoes poured in throughout the day.
According to the National Weather Service, approximately 240 preliminary severe weather reports filed in from Wisconsin to Texas, spanning Tuesday afternoon to early Wednesday morning.
The tornadoes turned deadly as they swept through areas including Elk City, Oklahoma, and Chetek, Wisconsin. In Chetek, at least one person died after a tornado flattened a mobile home park. Another person was killed in Elk City, where a tornado destroyed at least 40 homes, according to the Associated Press.
The tornado that tracked through Elk City was determined to be at last an EF-2 with winds of at least 111 mph.
People impacted by tornadoes in Elk City were permitted to return to their homes with day passes valid between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. CDT on Wednesday.
Utility companies in Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Iowa reported more than 15,600 customers were without power early Wednesday morning.
Damaging wind gusts between 60 and 70 mph caused extensive tree and power line damage and left thousands without power. Hail as large as baseballs was reported in Kansas.
The thunderstorms unleashed torrential rainfall between 1 to 3 inches, which triggered flash flooding in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma.
The weather will not cooperate for cleanup operations as more rounds of severe weather are in store across the Central states into Friday.
North of Englewood, Kansas, before the storm. (Photo/Mike Smith, AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions senior vice president)
Funnel cloud before the tornado touched down southwest of McLean, Texas. (Photo/Reed Timmer, AccuWeather extreme meteorologist)
First look at some of the damage in Elk City, Oklahoma. (Instagram Photo/juliecalhoun90)
This photo provided by Stacey Valdez shows hail Valdez took in Sayre, Okla., Tuesday, May 16, 2017. (Stacey Valdez via AP)
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW: tornadoes on 2 supercells from E TX Panhandle thru W OK incl. damaging Elk City tornado in which we deployed the probe <a href="https://twitter.com/breakingweather">@breakingweather</a> <a href="https://t.co/SJUxk6ztwt">pic.twitter.com/SJUxk6ztwt</a></p>— Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerAccu) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReedTimmerAccu/status/864703819233587201">May 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<center><blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/NWSTwinCities">@NWSTwinCities</a> Riding out the storm in Cameron, Wi. Hail over 2" in diameter <a href="https://t.co/ZMAF8oEW6q">pic.twitter.com/ZMAF8oEW6q</a></p>— Tanner Johnson (@VanillaGohrilla) <a href="https://twitter.com/VanillaGohrilla/status/864613458561691648">May 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
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A mobile home park in Barron County, Wisc., is mostly destroyed after a tornado hit the area on Tuesday, May 16, 2017. (Facebook Photo/Barron County Sheriff's Department)
A German Shepherd dog guards what remains of what appears to be its owner's home Wednesday, May 17, 2017, in a trailer park that was devastated by a tornado Tuesday during powerful spring storms that battered an area from the South Plains of Texas to the Great Lakes. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)
A tornado flattened a trailer park and nearby trees in a mobile home park Tuesday, May 16, 2017, in Chetek, Wis. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)
