Severe storms sweep Midwest with rains, tornadoes, and gusts

DETROIT: Severe storms continued to barrel through the Midwest early on Wednesday, unleashing a curtain of heavy rain, gusty winds and tornadoes that forecasters warned could spill out of the region.

The tornadoes were first spotted after dark on Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service.

As the storms raged on in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh warned that a tornado in northeastern Ohio could cross into Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were also under a tornado warning.

Hours earlier in southwestern Michigan, two tornadoes blitzed the city of Portage near Kalamazoo on Tuesday night, destroying homes and commercial buildings, including a FedEx facility that was ripped apart. There were no serious injuries immediately reported, but city officials said in a news release that the twisters knocked out power to more than 20,000 people. Most of them would be without power until late Wednesday, city officials said.

At one point, about 50 people were trapped inside the FedEx facility because of downed power lines. But company spokesperson Shannon Davis said late Tuesday that “all team members are safe and accounted for”. Tuesday’s storms came a day after parts of the central US were battered by heavy rain, strong winds, hail and twisters. Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

On Monday night, a deadly twister in Oklahoma tore through the small 1,000-person town of Barnsdall. At least one person was killed.