By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKI (Associated Press)
Thousands of homes and businesses had no power on Tuesday as severe weather moved rapidly through several states, resulting in at least one death and potentially creating tornadoes.
In West Virginia, approximately 140,000 customers were without electricity on Tuesday afternoon, which accounts for about 14% of all customers monitored in the state by poweroutage.us. At the same time, a spring snowstorm was expected to deposit over a foot of snow in Wisconsin.
One of the areas most affected was northeastern Oklahoma, where a strong weather system with heavy rains generated three suspected tornadoes. The storms were also responsible for the death of a 46-year-old homeless woman in Tulsa who died inside a drainage pipe, police stated.
Tulsa Fire Department spokesperson Andy Little stated that the woman’s boyfriend informed authorities that the two had fallen asleep at the entrance of the drainage pipe and were awoken by the flood waters. National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Darby mentioned that up to 1.5 inches (3.81 centimeters) of rain fell in Tulsa in about one hour before moving northeastward out of the state.
“It wasn’t a lot. But when it came down it was quite fast,” Darby said.
In Ohio, firefighters rescued two individuals who were trapped under a bridge early Tuesday when the waters of an Ohio river started to rise, and forecasters cautioned about more severe weather heading to the area.
The two individuals were sleeping under the bridge at approximately 8:45 a.m. when the Scioto River began to rise, as reported by the Columbus Fire Department. Although the pair were not directly in the water, the flooding prevented them from returning to the shore, so a fire department boat was dispatched to rescue them.
No injuries were reported.
Severe storms also passed through far southwestern Indiana on Tuesday morning, knocking down trees and causing power outages, prompting several local school districts to cancel classes for the day. Over 18,000 homes and businesses were without power shortly before noon Tuesday, including in Vanderburgh County, home to Evansville, Indiana’s third-largest city.
Residents in Wisconsin were preparing for a spring snowstorm that forecasters warned could deposit over a foot of snow in eastern parts of the state, including the Green Bay area. The state’s top election official, Meagan Wolfe, encouraged residents planning to vote in Tuesday’s presidential primaries to consider casting their votes earlier in the day, depending on their local forecast, to avoid travel problems.
The National Weather Service stated that snowfall totals could vary from 4 to 8 inches over central Wisconsin and 8 to 14 inches over eastern Wisconsin, while wind gusts of 30 mph to 50 mph will create very limited visibility and make travel challenging at best. Meteorologist Scott Cultice with the weather service’s Green Bay office mentioned that the storm will bring “a very heavy, wet snow” to central and eastern Wisconsin, but is nothing unusual for early April in the state.
“Just three weeks ago we were in the 70s, so that kind of got people thinking spring is right around the corner — and here we’re in April and we’re getting a major snowstorm,” Cultice said. “As people say, `That’s springtime in Wisconsin.’ ”
A storm in West Virginia removed part of a building's roof in downtown Charleston, scattering bricks on the street and closing the road to traffic on Tuesday afternoon. Trees were uprooted and ended up on roads, lawns, and even on top of cars.
Gov. Jim Justice mentioned that his team is keeping an eye on the damage across the state.
He wrote on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, urging caution due to power lines, trees, and debris on the roads.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency after severe storms passed through the state Tuesday morning and more were expected later in the day. The storms brought tornado warnings, heavy rain, wind, hail, and lightning.
Beshear reported significant damage to several structures and expressed gratitude that there were no known fatalities at the moment. He urged all Kentuckians to stay alert to the weather as more severe weather was anticipated in the afternoon and evening.
Due to upcoming weather conditions, all executive branch state office buildings closed on Tuesday afternoon. Some universities in the state also canceled in-person classes in the afternoon and evening due to the impending weather.
The storm was projected to move into New England on Wednesday night and Thursday, with forecasts of 12 to 18 inches of snow in parts of New Hampshire and Maine and less in other areas, as per the National Weather Service. Wind gusts could possibly reach 50 mph (80 kph) in some places, raising the potential for power outages.
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