Severe storms have left at least three people dead and over 250,000 customers without power in parts of the Midwest and the South, as forecasters warned that intense, long-lasting storms at a level typically experienced only once or twice in a lifetime could sweep across a vast swath of the South on Saturday.
The Weather Service also issued the highest risk alert for tornadoes in some areas of the Midwest starting Friday night.
“Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter,” the Weather Service warned residents in parts of western Illinois. “Damage to roofs, windows and vehicles will occur.”
Forecasters doubled down on their language on Saturday, saying they believed there was a high risk of violent, long-track tornadoes in the South.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol wrote on X that a man and a woman had died after storms tore through Ozark County, near the border with Arkansas.
And Robbie Myers, the director of Butler County Emergency Management in Missouri, said at least one person had died overnight after getting trapped in a house that sustained severe damage on a country road near Poplar Bluffs, Mo. A mobile-home park, church and grocery store in town had also been damaged, he said.
“It was a very devastating scene where the mobile-home park was,” said Mr. Myers, who added that several people had been taken to the hospital with injuries. “We’re waiting for the sun to come up to see how much damage has been done.”
Storms caused widespread damage in the state, including in the city of Rolla, state emergency officials said late Friday night.
By around 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, power outages had spread to more than 141,000 customers in Missouri, 46,000 in Illinois, 46,000 in Indiana and 19,000 in Arkansas according to PowerOutage.us, a tracking website.
These storms are all connected to the intense system wreaking havoc across the Central United States, which over the past day has brought tornadoes across the Midwest and dust storms and wildfires to the Plains.
Saturday’s storms are forecast to move extremely fast and may catch people off guard. They have the potential to form numerous significant tornadoes, some of which could be potentially violent, damaging hurricane-force (greater than 74 miles per hour) winds and golf-ball- or even baseball-size hail.
The most dangerous threat of tornadoes would most likely be across Louisiana and Mississippi from late morning into early afternoon on Saturday. From the afternoon into the evening, the storms are expected to sweep across Alabama and maybe into Tennessee before crossing into Georgia and northern Florida overnight.
According to the Storm Prediction Center, Saturday is likely to be the third time in history that the center has issued a high-risk warning on the second day of a storm. Central Mississippi and Alabama face the highest risk level, five, in the center’s rating system. The Gulf Coast states and Georgia face a high risk level of four on Saturday.
Storms at this highest level of alert can often produce intense long-track tornadoes, meaning they stay on the ground for a very long time. A slow storm will typically only affect one or two communities, but a faster-moving storm such as this one can cross multiple states, leaving a long trail of damage.
Tornadoes typically occur across the South from the middle of March until late April, when the risk shifts to the Plains.
The threat of severe weather is expected to continue into the weekend, as the front pushes eastward. The storm is expected to move offshore on Monday.
Hank Sanders, Qasim Nauman and Jonathan Wolfe contributed reporting.
