As clean-up and recovery continue in Moore, Okla., a group of severe thunderstorms created tornadoes in Oklahoma and Arkansas on Thursday as it cut a swath across the central U.S. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.
By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News
Severe thunderstorms packing high winds, heavy rains, large hail and possibly tornadoes threatened much of Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma on Friday, a day after tornadoes in the two states injured nine people.
Tornado watches were in effect Friday morning across much of Arkansas, extending into southern Missouri and eastern Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service. Strong storms with potential to produce large hail were simultaneously forming to the north, in northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri, the weather service said.
A slight risk of severe thunderstorms extended from northern Texas to the Great Lakes in a 300,000-square-mile swath home to 42 million people and major cities including Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Indianapolis, the service said.
On Thursday, two tornadoes were confirmed in Oklahoma and a third struck in Arkansas, with it and accompanying storms injuring nine people, according to weather.com, which said two people were injured in Rogers, Ark., from a lightning strike.
Because the storms mostly struck after dark, damage had not been fully assessed.
Many more severe storms were reported, however. The weather service logged 16 reports of tornadoes in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Illinois and said a house was reported to have been destroyed, injuring two people, in Oden, Ark. Three people were reported injured in Pike County, Ark., where a mobile home was destroyed and at least three houses were damaged.
Alonzo Adams / AP
A wall cloud forms near Purcell, Okla., on Thursday. At least three twisters struck Oklahoma and Arkansas.
There were 44 reports of large hail, including baseball-size precipitation in Stephens County, Okla., and 276 wind reports, including 81 mph gusts in Des Moines, Iowa, and 70 mph winds in Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and Tennessee.
In the Chicago area, severe storms felled trees, and lightning was blamed for a fire at a condominium building.
Weather.com warned that while the threat for the most severe storms and tornadoes was concentrated along a band from Oklahoma to the Ozarks, storms could cause flooding and wind and hail damage over a much wider area.
Flood watches and warnings were in effect early Friday in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
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