Ice, snow, storms, possible tornadoes: Watch out way home for the holidays

The plains of the North and the Middle West are putting ice and snowfalls and 68 million are in the path of the storm. Meteorologist Mike Bettes reports.At least two people were killed in wild weather on Saturday, as rain, snow, ice and storm wreaked havoc from freezing for millions of travelers on vacation off the coast of the Gulf of Louisiana to Eastern Canada."This is a particularly strong storm with very hot, close to the temperature record in the East and very cold air in the Midwest, and that contrast is the kind of conditions which are favorable not only the climate of winter but also tornadoes," meteorologist of the national service of meteorology Ed Danaher in College Park, Maryland, told Reuters.Two people reported killed Saturday when strong winds swept areas south of Memphis, Mississippi, said that the State Emergency Management Agency. In coahoma, Mississippi County, a 43-year-old man died when the winds overturned his mobile home and immobilized him against a tree, reported NBC WMC of Memphis station. Another man died when his car collided with a tree fallen in Jasper County, and a woman in the car was seriously injured, The Associated Press reported.Coahoma, Mississippi in eastern Arkansas Northwest, a suspected tornado injured several people and damaged homes near the village of Hughes in eastern Arkansas, Lynn Morgan of Saint Francis County the Sheriff's office dispatcher told Reuters.Another tornado suspicious near Dermott in Southeastern Arkansas, damaged houses and flew four trailers next to a highway, said meteorologist of the national climate David Cox in Jackson, Miss."We are thinking that it was a tornado," Cox told Reuters. "We've had a bit of rotation and a bit of damage."More than 80,000 people in Arkansas were without electricity Saturday afternoon, according to reports of disruption of the utility company.It was reported a gust of wind from 83 mph in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, reported The Weather Channel on Twitter. A road in the Louisville Okolona area was closed after power lines fell on a car dealership and nine vehicles caught fire, NBC station wave in Louisville reported.The winds also reported late Saturday in Nashville.Thirteen States were under flood watches and warnings, severe weather expected from East Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, Southern Ohio. Three to six inches of rain were recorded in Southeast Missouri.The main threat tornado was in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, said Christopher Dolce, a meteorologist at the Weather Channel.While meteorological States in winter, he added, December tornadoes are uncommon. The national weather service in Nashville reported that the tornado of December last in Tennessee was in the year 2000.Bad weather was complicating travel for persons from 95 million which will fly to estimates of AAA travel agency or by car for the holidays."We have had very bad conditions weather two weeks before Christmas," said Dolce. "There has been a considerable amount of winter storms all the way back to the days before Thanksgiving and lots of travel woes continuing in December."Further to the North, ice developed in parts of the Plains and the Midwest. Snow was expected to affect parts of Kansas and Northern Michigan on Saturday and the Sunday morning Northwest Texas and Oklahoma trips.Rainy icy conditions dangerously icy on Oklahoma highways. The Oklahoma highway patrol blamed the weather for a death early Saturday morning, according to NBC affiliate KJRH in Tulsa.Chicago was aside from the storm, said Dolce, but headaches might travel there on Sunday.As parts of the Northeast took delight in high temperature record for the first day of winter, the national weather service issued a storm warning of snow to Northern New York and Vermont, and Nueva York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a State of emergency. Vermont and Maine could also be hit. In addition to travel woes, Dolce said, ice could reach more than half of an inch in some areas, creating the risk of blackouts.Dolce improvements were on the way for those traveling on Monday and on Christmas Eve. While there were "pockets of problems" for holiday travelers on Christmas day, Dolce said that most of the evils of the time will disappear once this storm subsides.Meanwhile, there was a surge of hot air in the Northeast, bringing temperatures in the upper 60's and low 70 as far north as New York and Philadelphia. High in Newark, New Jersey, 64 broke record of the city for the first day of the winter broke 62 located in 2011, said NBCNewYork.com, and Atlantic City and Philadelphia hit 67 on Saturday."It's a goodbye, White Christmas, in parts of southern New England," Dolce said.Rain and warm weather even the Empire State Plaza in Albany, N.y., ice rink closed this weekend.NBC News Gil Aegerter and Reuters contributed to this report.This story was originally posted on Sunday, December 22, 2013 12:54 AM EST

Powerful Midwest storm threatens severe tornadoes, damaging winds

aCellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood. By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC NewsA powerful storm system rampaged through the Midwest on Sunday, spawning dozens of tornadoes that killed at least six people, injured many others and left devastating damage in parts of Illinois.Brookport, Ill., in Massac County near the Kentucky line, was particularly hard hit. At least two people were confirmed to have died, and police with dogs were going door to door to search for trapped residents. With roads entering the city closed by debris and downed power lines, Brookport authorities imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.At least four other people were killed in Illinois, the state Emergency Management Agency told NBC News. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister were killed near New Minden, according to Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger, and unidentified victims were confirmed dead in Washington city and in Unionville."All of a sudden, the wind started picking up, and [my wife] said, 'We've got to get in the basement right now!'" Steve Bucher of Washington told NBC station WEEK of Peoria."Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking, sputtering," he said. "Next thing we know, it's light inside the garage."After bringing rain and tornadoes to Illinois, what will this weather system do next? Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel reports.By early evening, 37 people were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, seven of them as trauma patients. Numerous injuries were also reported in Massac County, and with communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many other people might be hurt.At WEEK-TV, newscasters had to go off the air abruptly as they realized they themselves were in the path of the twister. According to the National Weather Service, the station's roof was damaged. Steve Smedley / APA storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood.In Tazewell County in central Illinois, emergency crews were responding to a tornado that flattened homes in several neighborhoods. The cities with reported damage include Washington, Perkin and East Peoria, county spokeswoman Sara Sparkman told NBC News. Pictures from Washington showed an expansive trail of wood debris from homes torn apart as the twister laid waste to one neighborhood.East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said about 100 homes were damaged in his city of more than 23,000 residents, with 25 to 50 destroyed and uninhabitable.The Red Cross was working with the county to open up shelters in the area for families whose homes were damaged.Altogether, The Weather Channel recorded 40 reports of tornadoes: 16 in Indiana, 14 in Illinois, eight in Kentucky and one each in Missouri and Ohio. There were more than 250 reports of wind damage or high winds across eight states. At least 83,000 customers were without electric power Sunday evening in Illinois, most of those in the Peoria area, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois Emergency management Agency.Rescue teams were deploying to multiple areas across the state, focusing on the hard-hit Washington and Gifford areas, Monken said.Damage extended across the region, with damage reported as far east as Kentucky.Corey Mayes of Corydon in Henderson County, Ky., said he, his wife and their 4-year-old dashed downstairs as a tornado rushed through.A violent storm system spawned tornadoes in central Illinois. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports. "I yelled at everybody to get down to the basement, and I checked on my family and ran back up," Mayes told NBC station WFIE of nearby Fort Wayne, Ind."About that time, it had already come across the street and was trying to touch back down," he said. "It just sucked back up and blew on over."Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned residents that the weather and storms across the state were "very serious."In Chicago, the Baltimore Ravens-Chicago Bears NFL game was delayed because of the weather, and the seating area at Soldier Field was evacuated. The game resumed at about 2:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET) after a nearly two-hour delay.The highest threat area for tornadoes was eastern Illinois into Indiana, southern Michigan, western Kentucky and western Ohio, but dangerous winds were also a concern as the storms move across the Appalachians as well as parts of the Northeast into early Monday, the National Weather Service said.Significant damage was reported in Lebanon, Ind., where Elizabeth MacDougal was in a Starbucks when a possible tornado appeared. "I was looking out the front window of the Starbucks and I was actually on the phone with my mom saying, 'Hey, we're entering some not-so-nice weather here,'" McDougal told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis."And then all of a sudden, I see this white cloud, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's moving funny,'" she said. "And then my eyes tracked downward, and that's when the debris started to kick up. And that's when I said, 'Mom, I gotta go!'"The windows of the Starbucks were shattered, and vehicles in the parking lot were overturned, WTHR reported.Wind and hail could cause downed trees and scattered power failures across a broad area from Chicago to Buffalo.The Weather Channel predicted that the storm would diminish as it moved east through Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, but high winds could reach as far as New York on Monday morning.Michelle Acevedo, Christopher Essner, Azhar Fateh, Elisha Fieldstadt, Alastair Jamieson, Christopher E. Nelson and Julmary Zambrano of NBC News contributed to this report.This story was originally published on Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:28 PM EST

53 million people at risk as powerful Midwest storm brings tornadoes, severe winds

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Cellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood.

By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC News

A powerful storm system rampaged through the Midwest on Sunday, spawning dozens of tornadoes that killed at least six people, injured many others and left devastating damage in parts of Illinois.

Brookport, Ill., in Massac County near the Kentucky line, was particularly hard hit. At least two people were confirmed to have died, and police with dogs were going door to door to search for trapped residents. With roads entering the city closed by debris and downed power lines, Brookport authorities imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.

At least four other people were killed in Illinois, the state Emergency Management Agency told NBC News. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister were killed near New Minden, according to Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger, and unidentified victims were confirmed dead in Washington city and in Unionville.

"All of a sudden, the wind started picking up, and [my wife] said, 'We've got to get in the basement right now!'" Steve Bucher of Washington told NBC station WEEK of Peoria.

"Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking, sputtering," he said. "Next thing we know, it's light inside the garage."

After bringing rain and tornadoes to Illinois, what will this weather system do next? Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel reports.

By early evening, 37 people were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, seven of them as trauma patients. Numerous injuries were also reported in Massac County, and with communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many other people might be hurt.

At WEEK-TV, newscasters had to go off the air abruptly as they realized they themselves were in the path of the twister. According to the National Weather Service, the station's roof was damaged.

Steve Smedley / AP

A storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood.

In Tazewell County in central Illinois, emergency crews were responding to a tornado that flattened homes in several neighborhoods. The cities with reported damage include Washington, Perkin and East Peoria, county spokeswoman Sara Sparkman told NBC News. Pictures from Washington showed an expansive trail of wood debris from homes torn apart as the twister laid waste to one neighborhood.

East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said about 100 homes were damaged in his city of more than 23,000 residents, with 25 to 50 destroyed and uninhabitable.

The Red Cross was working with the county to open up shelters in the area for families whose homes were damaged.

Altogether, The Weather Channel recorded 40 reports of tornadoes: 16 in Indiana, 14 in Illinois, eight in Kentucky and one each in Missouri and Ohio. There were more than 250 reports of wind damage or high winds across eight states. 

At least 83,000 customers were without electric power Sunday evening in Illinois, most of those in the Peoria area, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois Emergency management Agency.

Rescue teams were deploying to multiple areas across the state, focusing on the hard-hit Washington and Gifford areas, Monken said.

Damage extended across the region, with damage reported as far east as Kentucky.

Corey Mayes of Corydon in Henderson County, Ky., said he, his wife and their 4-year-old dashed downstairs as a tornado rushed through.

A violent storm system spawned tornadoes in central Illinois. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

"I yelled at everybody to get down to the basement, and I checked on my family and ran back up," Mayes told NBC station WFIE of nearby Fort Wayne, Ind.

"About that time, it had already come across the street and was trying to touch back down," he said. "It just sucked back up and blew on over."

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned residents that the weather and storms across the state were "very serious."

In Chicago, the Baltimore Ravens-Chicago Bears NFL game was delayed because of the weather, and the seating area at Soldier Field was evacuated. The game resumed at about 2:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET) after a nearly two-hour delay.

The highest threat area for tornadoes was eastern Illinois into Indiana, southern Michigan, western Kentucky and western Ohio, but dangerous winds were also a concern as the storms move across the Appalachians as well as parts of the Northeast into early Monday, the National Weather Service said.

Significant damage was reported in Lebanon, Ind., where Elizabeth MacDougal was in a Starbucks when a possible tornado appeared.

 "I was looking out the front window of the Starbucks and I was actually on the phone with my mom saying, 'Hey, we're entering some not-so-nice weather here,'" McDougal told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis.

"And then all of a sudden, I see this white cloud, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's moving funny,'" she said. "And then my eyes tracked downward, and that's when the debris started to kick up. And that's when I said, 'Mom, I gotta go!'"

The windows of the Starbucks were shattered, and vehicles in the parking lot were overturned, WTHR reported.

Wind and hail could cause downed trees and scattered power failures across a broad area from Chicago to Buffalo.

The Weather Channel predicted that the storm would diminish as it moved east through Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, but high winds could reach as far as New York on Monday morning.

Michelle Acevedo, Christopher Essner, Azhar Fateh, Elisha Fieldstadt, Alastair Jamieson, Christopher E. Nelson and Julmary Zambrano of NBC News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:28 PM EST

'The whole neighborhood's gone': Deadly tornadoes leave path of destruction in Midwest

aCellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood. By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC NewsA powerful storm system rampaged through the Midwest on Sunday, spawning dozens of tornadoes that killed at least six people, injured many others and left devastating damage in parts of Illinois.Brookport, Ill., in Massac County near the Kentucky line, was particularly hard hit. At least two people were confirmed to have died, and police with dogs were going door to door to search for trapped residents. With roads entering the city closed by debris and downed power lines, Brookport authorities imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.At least four other people were killed in Illinois, the state Emergency Management Agency told NBC News. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister were killed near New Minden, according to Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger, and unidentified victims were confirmed dead in Washington city and in Unionville."All of a sudden, the wind started picking up, and [my wife] said, 'We've got to get in the basement right now!'" Steve Bucher of Washington told NBC station WEEK of Peoria."Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking, sputtering," he said. "Next thing we know, it's light inside the garage."After bringing rain and tornadoes to Illinois, what will this weather system do next? Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel reports.By early evening, 37 people were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, seven of them as trauma patients. Numerous injuries were also reported in Massac County, and with communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many other people might be hurt.At WEEK-TV, newscasters had to go off the air abruptly as they realized they themselves were in the path of the twister. According to the National Weather Service, the station's roof was damaged. Steve Smedley / APA storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood.In Tazewell County in central Illinois, emergency crews were responding to a tornado that flattened homes in several neighborhoods. The cities with reported damage include Washington, Perkin and East Peoria, county spokeswoman Sara Sparkman told NBC News. Pictures from Washington showed an expansive trail of wood debris from homes torn apart as the twister laid waste to one neighborhood.East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said about 100 homes were damaged in his city of more than 23,000 residents, with 25 to 50 destroyed and uninhabitable.The Red Cross was working with the county to open up shelters in the area for families whose homes were damaged.Altogether, The Weather Channel recorded 40 reports of tornadoes: 16 in Indiana, 14 in Illinois, eight in Kentucky and one each in Missouri and Ohio. There were more than 250 reports of wind damage or high winds across eight states. At least 83,000 customers were without electric power Sunday evening in Illinois, most of those in the Peoria area, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois Emergency management Agency.Rescue teams were deploying to multiple areas across the state, focusing on the hard-hit Washington and Gifford areas, Monken said.Damage extended across the region, with damage reported as far east as Kentucky.Corey Mayes of Corydon in Henderson County, Ky., said he, his wife and their 4-year-old dashed downstairs as a tornado rushed through.A violent storm system spawned tornadoes in central Illinois. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports. "I yelled at everybody to get down to the basement, and I checked on my family and ran back up," Mayes told NBC station WFIE of nearby Fort Wayne, Ind."About that time, it had already come across the street and was trying to touch back down," he said. "It just sucked back up and blew on over."Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned residents that the weather and storms across the state were "very serious."In Chicago, the Baltimore Ravens-Chicago Bears NFL game was delayed because of the weather, and the seating area at Soldier Field was evacuated. The game resumed at about 2:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET) after a nearly two-hour delay.The highest threat area for tornadoes was eastern Illinois into Indiana, southern Michigan, western Kentucky and western Ohio, but dangerous winds were also a concern as the storms move across the Appalachians as well as parts of the Northeast into early Monday, the National Weather Service said.Significant damage was reported in Lebanon, Ind., where Elizabeth MacDougal was in a Starbucks when a possible tornado appeared. "I was looking out the front window of the Starbucks and I was actually on the phone with my mom saying, 'Hey, we're entering some not-so-nice weather here,'" McDougal told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis."And then all of a sudden, I see this white cloud, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's moving funny,'" she said. "And then my eyes tracked downward, and that's when the debris started to kick up. And that's when I said, 'Mom, I gotta go!'"The windows of the Starbucks were shattered, and vehicles in the parking lot were overturned, WTHR reported.Wind and hail could cause downed trees and scattered power failures across a broad area from Chicago to Buffalo.The Weather Channel predicted that the storm would diminish as it moved east through Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, but high winds could reach as far as New York on Monday morning.Michelle Acevedo, Christopher Essner, Azhar Fateh, Elisha Fieldstadt, Alastair Jamieson, Christopher E. Nelson and Julmary Zambrano of NBC News contributed to this report.This story was originally published on Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:28 PM EST

53 million people at risk as powerful Midwest storm threatens tornadoes and severe winds

aCellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood. By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC NewsA powerful storm system rampaged through the Midwest on Sunday, spawning dozens of tornadoes that killed at least six people, injured many others and left devastating damage in parts of Illinois.Brookport, Ill., in Massac County near the Kentucky line, was particularly hard hit. At least two people were confirmed to have died, and police with dogs were going door to door to search for trapped residents. With roads entering the city closed by debris and downed power lines, Brookport authorities imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.At least four other people were killed in Illinois, the state Emergency Management Agency told NBC News. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister were killed near New Minden, according to Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger, and unidentified victims were confirmed dead in Washington city and in Unionville."All of a sudden, the wind started picking up, and [my wife] said, 'We've got to get in the basement right now!'" Steve Bucher of Washington told NBC station WEEK of Peoria."Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking, sputtering," he said. "Next thing we know, it's light inside the garage."After bringing rain and tornadoes to Illinois, what will this weather system do next? Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel reports.By early evening, 37 people were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, seven of them as trauma patients. Numerous injuries were also reported in Massac County, and with communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many other people might be hurt.At WEEK-TV, newscasters had to go off the air abruptly as they realized they themselves were in the path of the twister. According to the National Weather Service, the station's roof was damaged. Steve Smedley / APA storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood.In Tazewell County in central Illinois, emergency crews were responding to a tornado that flattened homes in several neighborhoods. The cities with reported damage include Washington, Perkin and East Peoria, county spokeswoman Sara Sparkman told NBC News. Pictures from Washington showed an expansive trail of wood debris from homes torn apart as the twister laid waste to one neighborhood.East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said about 100 homes were damaged in his city of more than 23,000 residents, with 25 to 50 destroyed and uninhabitable.The Red Cross was working with the county to open up shelters in the area for families whose homes were damaged.Altogether, The Weather Channel recorded 40 reports of tornadoes: 16 in Indiana, 14 in Illinois, eight in Kentucky and one each in Missouri and Ohio. There were more than 250 reports of wind damage or high winds across eight states. At least 83,000 customers were without electric power Sunday evening in Illinois, most of those in the Peoria area, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois Emergency management Agency.Rescue teams were deploying to multiple areas across the state, focusing on the hard-hit Washington and Gifford areas, Monken said.Damage extended across the region, with damage reported as far east as Kentucky.Corey Mayes of Corydon in Henderson County, Ky., said he, his wife and their 4-year-old dashed downstairs as a tornado rushed through.A violent storm system spawned tornadoes in central Illinois. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports. "I yelled at everybody to get down to the basement, and I checked on my family and ran back up," Mayes told NBC station WFIE of nearby Fort Wayne, Ind."About that time, it had already come across the street and was trying to touch back down," he said. "It just sucked back up and blew on over."Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned residents that the weather and storms across the state were "very serious."In Chicago, the Baltimore Ravens-Chicago Bears NFL game was delayed because of the weather, and the seating area at Soldier Field was evacuated. The game resumed at about 2:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET) after a nearly two-hour delay.The highest threat area for tornadoes was eastern Illinois into Indiana, southern Michigan, western Kentucky and western Ohio, but dangerous winds were also a concern as the storms move across the Appalachians as well as parts of the Northeast into early Monday, the National Weather Service said.Significant damage was reported in Lebanon, Ind., where Elizabeth MacDougal was in a Starbucks when a possible tornado appeared. "I was looking out the front window of the Starbucks and I was actually on the phone with my mom saying, 'Hey, we're entering some not-so-nice weather here,'" McDougal told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis."And then all of a sudden, I see this white cloud, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's moving funny,'" she said. "And then my eyes tracked downward, and that's when the debris started to kick up. And that's when I said, 'Mom, I gotta go!'"The windows of the Starbucks were shattered, and vehicles in the parking lot were overturned, WTHR reported.Wind and hail could cause downed trees and scattered power failures across a broad area from Chicago to Buffalo.The Weather Channel predicted that the storm would diminish as it moved east through Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, but high winds could reach as far as New York on Monday morning.Michelle Acevedo, Christopher Essner, Azhar Fateh, Elisha Fieldstadt, Alastair Jamieson, Christopher E. Nelson and Julmary Zambrano of NBC News contributed to this report.This story was originally published on Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:28 PM EST

Scores of tornadoes kill 4, injure at least 37 in Midwest

aCellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood. By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC NewsA powerful storm system rampaged through the Midwest on Sunday, spawning dozens of tornadoes that killed at least six people, injured many others and left devastating damage in parts of Illinois.Brookport, Ill., in Massac County near the Kentucky line, was particularly hard hit. At least two people were confirmed to have died, and police with dogs were going door to door to search for trapped residents. With roads entering the city closed by debris and downed power lines, Brookport authorities imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.At least four other people were killed in Illinois, the state Emergency Management Agency told NBC News. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister were killed near New Minden, according to Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger, and unidentified victims were confirmed dead in Washington city and in Unionville."All of a sudden, the wind started picking up, and [my wife] said, 'We've got to get in the basement right now!'" Steve Bucher of Washington told NBC station WEEK of Peoria."Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking, sputtering," he said. "Next thing we know, it's light inside the garage."After bringing rain and tornadoes to Illinois, what will this weather system do next? Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel reports.By early evening, 37 people were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, seven of them as trauma patients. Numerous injuries were also reported in Massac County, and with communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many other people might be hurt.At WEEK-TV, newscasters had to go off the air abruptly as they realized they themselves were in the path of the twister. According to the National Weather Service, the station's roof was damaged. Steve Smedley / APA storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood.In Tazewell County in central Illinois, emergency crews were responding to a tornado that flattened homes in several neighborhoods. The cities with reported damage include Washington, Perkin and East Peoria, county spokeswoman Sara Sparkman told NBC News. Pictures from Washington showed an expansive trail of wood debris from homes torn apart as the twister laid waste to one neighborhood.East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said about 100 homes were damaged in his city of more than 23,000 residents, with 25 to 50 destroyed and uninhabitable.The Red Cross was working with the county to open up shelters in the area for families whose homes were damaged.Altogether, The Weather Channel recorded 40 reports of tornadoes: 16 in Indiana, 14 in Illinois, eight in Kentucky and one each in Missouri and Ohio. There were more than 250 reports of wind damage or high winds across eight states. At least 83,000 customers were without electric power Sunday evening in Illinois, most of those in the Peoria area, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois Emergency management Agency.Rescue teams were deploying to multiple areas across the state, focusing on the hard-hit Washington and Gifford areas, Monken said.Damage extended across the region, with damage reported as far east as Kentucky.Corey Mayes of Corydon in Henderson County, Ky., said he, his wife and their 4-year-old dashed downstairs as a tornado rushed through.A violent storm system spawned tornadoes in central Illinois. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports. "I yelled at everybody to get down to the basement, and I checked on my family and ran back up," Mayes told NBC station WFIE of nearby Fort Wayne, Ind."About that time, it had already come across the street and was trying to touch back down," he said. "It just sucked back up and blew on over."Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned residents that the weather and storms across the state were "very serious."In Chicago, the Baltimore Ravens-Chicago Bears NFL game was delayed because of the weather, and the seating area at Soldier Field was evacuated. The game resumed at about 2:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET) after a nearly two-hour delay.The highest threat area for tornadoes was eastern Illinois into Indiana, southern Michigan, western Kentucky and western Ohio, but dangerous winds were also a concern as the storms move across the Appalachians as well as parts of the Northeast into early Monday, the National Weather Service said.Significant damage was reported in Lebanon, Ind., where Elizabeth MacDougal was in a Starbucks when a possible tornado appeared. "I was looking out the front window of the Starbucks and I was actually on the phone with my mom saying, 'Hey, we're entering some not-so-nice weather here,'" McDougal told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis."And then all of a sudden, I see this white cloud, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's moving funny,'" she said. "And then my eyes tracked downward, and that's when the debris started to kick up. And that's when I said, 'Mom, I gotta go!'"The windows of the Starbucks were shattered, and vehicles in the parking lot were overturned, WTHR reported.Wind and hail could cause downed trees and scattered power failures across a broad area from Chicago to Buffalo.The Weather Channel predicted that the storm would diminish as it moved east through Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, but high winds could reach as far as New York on Monday morning.Michelle Acevedo, Christopher Essner, Azhar Fateh, Elisha Fieldstadt, Alastair Jamieson, Christopher E. Nelson and Julmary Zambrano of NBC News contributed to this report.This story was originally published on Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:28 PM EST

Scores of tornadoes kill 5, injure at least 37 in Midwest

aCellphone video captures a twister touching down in a central Illinois neighborhood. By M. Alex Johnson and Jeff Black, NBC NewsA powerful storm system rampaged through the Midwest on Sunday, spawning dozens of tornadoes that killed at least six people, injured many others and left devastating damage in parts of Illinois.Brookport, Ill., in Massac County near the Kentucky line, was particularly hard hit. At least two people were confirmed to have died, and police with dogs were going door to door to search for trapped residents. With roads entering the city closed by debris and downed power lines, Brookport authorities imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew.At least four other people were killed in Illinois, the state Emergency Management Agency told NBC News. An 80-year-old man and his 78-year-old sister were killed near New Minden, according to Washington County Coroner Mark Styninger, and unidentified victims were confirmed dead in Washington city and in Unionville."All of a sudden, the wind started picking up, and [my wife] said, 'We've got to get in the basement right now!'" Steve Bucher of Washington told NBC station WEEK of Peoria."Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking, sputtering," he said. "Next thing we know, it's light inside the garage."After bringing rain and tornadoes to Illinois, what will this weather system do next? Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel reports.By early evening, 37 people were being treated at St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, seven of them as trauma patients. Numerous injuries were also reported in Massac County, and with communications difficult and many roads impassable, it remained unclear how many other people might be hurt.At WEEK-TV, newscasters had to go off the air abruptly as they realized they themselves were in the path of the twister. According to the National Weather Service, the station's roof was damaged. Steve Smedley / APA storm system spun off multiple tornadoes killing several people and flattening an entire neighborhood.In Tazewell County in central Illinois, emergency crews were responding to a tornado that flattened homes in several neighborhoods. The cities with reported damage include Washington, Perkin and East Peoria, county spokeswoman Sara Sparkman told NBC News. Pictures from Washington showed an expansive trail of wood debris from homes torn apart as the twister laid waste to one neighborhood.East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus said about 100 homes were damaged in his city of more than 23,000 residents, with 25 to 50 destroyed and uninhabitable.The Red Cross was working with the county to open up shelters in the area for families whose homes were damaged.Altogether, The Weather Channel recorded 40 reports of tornadoes: 16 in Indiana, 14 in Illinois, eight in Kentucky and one each in Missouri and Ohio. There were more than 250 reports of wind damage or high winds across eight states. At least 83,000 customers were without electric power Sunday evening in Illinois, most of those in the Peoria area, said Jonathon Monken, director of the Illinois Emergency management Agency.Rescue teams were deploying to multiple areas across the state, focusing on the hard-hit Washington and Gifford areas, Monken said.Damage extended across the region, with damage reported as far east as Kentucky.Corey Mayes of Corydon in Henderson County, Ky., said he, his wife and their 4-year-old dashed downstairs as a tornado rushed through.A violent storm system spawned tornadoes in central Illinois. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports. "I yelled at everybody to get down to the basement, and I checked on my family and ran back up," Mayes told NBC station WFIE of nearby Fort Wayne, Ind."About that time, it had already come across the street and was trying to touch back down," he said. "It just sucked back up and blew on over."Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned residents that the weather and storms across the state were "very serious."In Chicago, the Baltimore Ravens-Chicago Bears NFL game was delayed because of the weather, and the seating area at Soldier Field was evacuated. The game resumed at about 2:20 p.m. (3:20 p.m. ET) after a nearly two-hour delay.The highest threat area for tornadoes was eastern Illinois into Indiana, southern Michigan, western Kentucky and western Ohio, but dangerous winds were also a concern as the storms move across the Appalachians as well as parts of the Northeast into early Monday, the National Weather Service said.Significant damage was reported in Lebanon, Ind., where Elizabeth MacDougal was in a Starbucks when a possible tornado appeared. "I was looking out the front window of the Starbucks and I was actually on the phone with my mom saying, 'Hey, we're entering some not-so-nice weather here,'" McDougal told NBC station WTHR of Indianapolis."And then all of a sudden, I see this white cloud, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's moving funny,'" she said. "And then my eyes tracked downward, and that's when the debris started to kick up. And that's when I said, 'Mom, I gotta go!'"The windows of the Starbucks were shattered, and vehicles in the parking lot were overturned, WTHR reported.Wind and hail could cause downed trees and scattered power failures across a broad area from Chicago to Buffalo.The Weather Channel predicted that the storm would diminish as it moved east through Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, but high winds could reach as far as New York on Monday morning.Michelle Acevedo, Christopher Essner, Azhar Fateh, Elisha Fieldstadt, Alastair Jamieson, Christopher E. Nelson and Julmary Zambrano of NBC News contributed to this report.This story was originally published on Sun Nov 17, 2013 6:28 PM EST