In case you missed it: Intense storms, damaging floods drench central to eastern US
A week of tornadoes and floods has left numerous areas of the United States scrambling in recovery mode after several bouts of severe weather wreaked havoc on states in the central and eastern parts of the country.
A series of heavy-hitting and slow-moving thunderstorms in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey sparked the need for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties on Thursday.
“Our top priority is the safety our residents,” Murphy said. “We have activated the State Emergency Operations Center as of 6 a.m. this morning and are deploying resources and personnel to help with recovery efforts.”
Downpours dumped over 4 inches of rain onto Philadelphia within a six-hour span. The city's normal rainfall for the entire month of June is 3.43 inches.
Flooding in Oswego, New York, also triggered a state of emergency declaration. In nearby Fulton, 1.68 inches of rain fell from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday. Mayor Billy Barlow said on Twitter that he was putting a travel advisory in place that asked residents to avoid unnecessary travel.
A utility worker walks the edge of the floodwaters submerging Broadway in Westville, New Jersey, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Severe weather erupted in the eastern U.S. as Thursday progressed, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers and delaying thousands of flights. The storms rampaged up and down the coast from Georgia to New Jersey. Up to hurricane-force winds were recorded in the hardest-hit areas of the Carolinas.
Intense flooding heavily impacted areas of Ohio this week, as well, particularly in Summit and Stark counties. The city of Clinton, located in Summit, was deluged with water levels up to 2 to 3 feet deep, according to Mayor Al Knack.
"My main concern is safety for our residents and business people on both sides of the river," Knack said.
About 25 of those residents were forced to evacuate due to the storms. As roads were rendered impassable, some residents resorted to traveling by kayaks over the flooded streets.
In other areas of the country, it was impacts from massive hailstones and intense wind gusts that left communities reeling from damage. Reports of tornadoes occurred in North Dakota, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma and Indiana this week.
Two EF2 tornadoes struck Oakville, Iowa, where one reached peak wind speeds of 120 mph. In Des Moines, Iowa, another pair of confirmed EF2 tornadoes downed power lines and destroyed buildings.
In Texas and Arkansas, it was the falling softball-sized hailstones that scared residents most. Strong winds whipped through Greenville, Texas, on Wednesday night, bringing the massive hailstones with it. Among the damage in the city, the exterior of a church building was left in tatters following the storm.
Storms also produced extreme weather in Arkansas, which endured 70-mph wind gusts that downed trees and power lines. Over 100,000 people were left in the dark on Wednesday night as storms knocked out power, according to poweroutage.us.
In Asia, a pair of deadly earthquakes wrought massive devastation in both China and Japan. Prior to the quake in southern China on Monday, at least 24 citizens were killed by rounds of heavy rain that resulted in widespread flooding. Monday's 6.0 magnitude quake in the same region left another 12 residents dead and 135 more injured.
Seventy-three buildings were destroyed and over 4,000 people were evacuated, according to authorities. The severe weather also triggered landslides that endangered many others. The area of Sichuan is tragically familiar with the impact of earthquakes, as deadly quakes have struck the region in 2017 and most notably in 2008, when a 7.9 magnitude tremor took the lives of over 87,000 people.
In Japan, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday night and injured at least 26 people, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. No deaths were reported.
The earthquake occurred about 20 miles to the west of Tsuruoka, Japan, located in the Yamagata Prefecture. The depth of the quake was 16.1 km (10 miles). In its aftermath, the quake damaged roadways, and some rail services have been suspended pending review of track conditions.
The Japan Meteorological Agency also released a tsunami warning following the quake, after which over 9,000 houses were reported to be without power, according to government sources.
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