Photos: Severe weather outbreak slams central US for 2nd day in a row

Severe thunderstorms stretched from Texas to Michigan on Wednesday as another round of violent weather unfolded over the nation’s midsection.

The storms struck some of the same areas that were rocked by tornadoes and large hail on Tuesday.

While fewer tornadoes were reported on Wednesday, the severe weather at midweek struck a much larger swath of the central United States, including bigger metro areas such as Oklahoma City and Chicago.

A larger number of the storms, when compared to Tuesday, contained high winds past 60 mph that easily took down trees and power lines.

One storm in Tillman County, Oklahoma, had winds clocked at over 100 mph, according to a National Weather Service (NWS) trained spotter.

All operations were suspended for a time at Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City as severe thunderstorms moved through.

While the worst of the storms focused on the central Plains, some damaging storms tracked across northern Illinois, northern Indiana and southern Michigan.

One storm brought wind gusts over 70 mph in Coldwater, Michigan, with emergency managers reporting downed tree limbs and power outages around the town. A wind gust of 66 mph was reported at Midway International Airport in Chicago.

Hail ranging from the size of pennies to ping pong balls was common across the Great Lakes region. However, some stronger storms brought hail as large as tennis balls.

Some streets became overwhelmed with water as the storms unleashed heavy rainfall.

A portion of Route 66 was shut down in Bethany, Oklahoma, located a few miles northwest of Oklahoma City, due to flooding Wednesday night.

Flooded and closed roads were also reported in portions of Kansas, Nebraska and northern Illinois, including downtown Chicago.

Following the severe weather onslaught this week, the region will get a much-needed break from damaging storms by the weekend.

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