4 dead, over 600,000 without power as new tornadoes, storms erupt
A new round of severe weather turned deadly on Friday with multiple tornadoes tearing across the central United States, including one that prompted an urgent and rare tornado emergency in Illinois.
At least four fatalities and 10 injuries were reported due to tornadoes that tore through Missouri on the evening of May 16. The severe weather threat will continue throughout the evening.
Clusters of severe thunderstorms erupted across the central and eastern United States on Friday afternoon less than 24 hours after hailstorms, tornadoes and straight-line winds blasted the Midwest.
At least four people have died and several more injured in the St. Louis area after a tornado-warned storm moved through the city on Friday afternoon. Multiple buildings were damaged, including Centennial Christian Church, according to The Associated Press.
Tornado activity peaked later Friday afternoon and through Friday evening, with dozens of tornado warnings issued from Indiana to northeastern Arkansas.
"Very terrifying," Gina Gooch told AccuWeather after she rode out a tornado that struck the small town of Blodgett, Missouri, about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis. "I went into this little pantry because I have no basement and all I could hear was trees crashing down."
The tornado hit the town just after tracking across Interstate 55 during the Friday evening commute. AccuWeather Storm Chaser and Meteorologist Tony Laubach was just a few hundred yards away as it lofted debris into the sky as it swirled across the highway. The tornado-warned storm passed near the meeting point of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky before eventually tracking over Paducah, Kentucky, early Friday evening.
A tornado throwing debris in the air just before tracking over Interstate 55 near Blodgett, Missouri. (AccuWeather/Tony Laubach)
A rare tornado emergency was issued near Creal Springs, Illinois, in the southern part of the state, as a violent thunderstorm moved through around 6:30 p.m. CDT. "Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be destroyed," the emergency alert stated.
Farther east, a cluster of severe thunderstorms rumbled across the mid-Atlantic with a tornado warning being issued for downtown Baltimore shortly before 6 p.m. EDT, although it has yet to be confirmed if a tornado did strike the city.
In addition to the thunderstorms, gusty winds kicked up dust from freshly-plowed farmland across Illinois, which caused in a dust storm that swept through the Chicago area. Visibility plummeted to just one-quarter of a mile at Chicago's Midway airport on Friday evening, accompanied by wind gusts up to 60 mph.
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Over 600,000 electric customers were in the dark on Friday evening as power outages mounted. This included nearly 200,000 in Michigan who lost power during storms on Thursday night.
Weather contributed to some of the more than 3,000 flight delays at airports directly impacted by thunderstorms on Friday, according to FlightAware. This had a ripple effect across the country, causing disruptions at some airports where the weather was clear.
Severe weather will threaten the same areas again early in the upcoming week with destructive storms and tornadoes in the forecast across the central U.S. on Monday and Tuesday.
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