Multiple tornadoes on Tuesday have threatened the Southeast as nonstop severe weather that killed 28 people in recent days enters its final stretch, with millions in the eastern half of the United States still in the path of dangerous storms.

More than 7 million people are at risk of strong tornadoes on Tuesday with severe weather underway in parts of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys. The threat includes areas already battered by this spring’s storms, like western Kentucky and western Tennessee.

Tornado watches were in effect for parts of 11 states by mid-afternoon, with damaging wind gusts, hail and heavy rain also possible in any storm.


A tornado touched down in Madison County, Tennessee, near the city of Jackson, on Tuesday afternoon at a Kirkland’s warehouse, close to Jackson Regional Airport, causing substantial roof damage, according to the county’s emergency management agency.

Additional tornadoes and damaging winds are possible through the evening as the storms approach the Appalachians. A tornado watch was in effect for the area, including parts of Kentucky and Virginia.


Here’s the latest:

Deadly weather: Violent storms have killed at least 28 people in three states since Friday: 19 in Kentucky, seven in Missouri – including five in St. Louis – and two in Virginia. There have been at least 1,800 reports to the Storm Prediction Center of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes in the days of storms since Wednesday.
Communities assess damage: Powerful storms slammed parts of the Plains and Mississippi Valley on Monday, with tornadoes reported in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Nebraska. At least five counties in Oklahoma sustained storm damage that ranged from downed trees and power lines to a destroyed fire station, but that number could rise as officials continue to assess the aftermath, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Rare tornado emergencies: In line with extreme tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service, on Friday an EF4 tornado roared through Illinois’ Williamson County and injured at least seven people. Two extreme warnings on Sunday turned into “large and destructive” tornado emergencies in Greensburg and Plevna, Kansas.
Severe threat targets hard-hit areas Tuesday
Millions of people in the eastern half of the US are at risk of severe thunderstorms on Tuesday as the storm system that spurred Monday’s damaging weather tracks east.


More than 13 million people – including in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee – are under a level 3-of-5 risk of severe thunderstorms, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
Some parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys could be hit by multiple rounds of storms. Storms lingering from Monday night intensified Tuesday morning in parts of Tennessee. These storms tracked east and expanded in scope early in the afternoon, bringing gusty winds to eastern Kentucky and at least one tornado to northern Alabama.

The “large and destructive tornado” was confirmed in Madison County near Huntsville, Alabama, on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. The city is also receiving reports of “golf ball size hail and related damage along with a lot of power outages,” said Huntsville spokesperson Kelly Schrimsher. Authorities so far have not reported any injuries.


The focus is shifting back to the Mississippi Valley late Tuesday, where a new round of storms – including some supercells – started to fire up and will continue to track east through the evening. Multiple tornado watches were issued for the region Tuesday afternoon as the threat started to increase. Wind gusts of up to 70 mph are also possible with these storms, the National Weather Service warned.

Any supercells will bring the day’s highest risk of strong tornadoes – rated EF2 or higher – in the afternoon hours before most storms start to merge into unbroken lines in early evening. Lines of storms will pose more of a widespread damaging wind threat through the evening but could still spawn tornadoes.

Six straight days of damaging storms
Ferocious storms have carved through hundreds of miles of the US in recent days, generating more than 1,800 reports of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes since Wednesday.

More than 100 of those reports were tornadoes. National Weather Service storm survey teams are still picking through extensive damage to determine exactly how many tornadoes tore through the central and eastern US since last week, but they’ve already found at least three EF3 tornadoes and one EF4.


The EF4 tornado tore through Williamson County in southern Illinois on Friday with 190 mph winds, injuring at least seven people as it damaged homes and obliterated trees.
An EF3 tornado rocked the St. Louis area Friday, according to the NWS, reaching its peak intensity with 152 mph winds as it stretched a mile wide over the north side of the city. The tornado killed at least five people and injured dozens, while also “damaging or destroying thousands of buildings.”

Storms also left vast destruction behind in Laurel County, Kentucky, with 17 deaths reported there over the weekend. The city of London, about 75 miles south of Lexington, was hit particularly hard. Police responding to mutual aid calls for tornado victims described the devastation as overwhelming.


The storm on Friday spawned a powerful EF4 tornado in London with 170 mph winds, comparable to windspeeds in a Category 5 hurricane. The twister’s track through Pulaski and Laurel was about 55 miles long and its maximum width was about a mile long, the county said. It was the deadliest tornado in the county’s history – the last tornado, and death from a twister, confirmed in the county was in 2012.

Officials are working to get residents to safety as they face the threat of more damaging storms Tuesday evening. Evacuations were set to go into effect at 6 p.m. local time in London and other devastated parts of Laurel County over fears that new storms could turn lingering debris into dangerous projectiles. The evacuation ends at 11 p.m.

“It is simply unsafe to be around that much debris with this level of wind,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
Sunday night saw tornadoes tear through Kansas, with authorities reporting significant damage to homes in the city of Plevna, roughly 60 miles from Wichita, and the small northwestern town of Grinnell.

Plevna was under a rare tornado emergency, the most extreme tornado warning, issued by the National Weather Service.


Grinnell endured a “large and extremely dangerous tornado” Sunday evening, according to the NWS. A preliminary rating put the tornado at EF2-strength, but that rating could rise as NWS survey crews continue surveying damage on Tuesday.

About 20 homes were destroyed in Grinnell, which is home to fewer than 300 people, according to Gove County Sheriff Shawn Mesch.

“Essentially the entire west of Grinnell was destroyed,” Mesch told CNN Monday. But despite the level of destruction, there have been no reports of injuries: “It’s insane that nobody was hurt,” he said.

The threats didn’t let up Monday, with dangerous storms stretching more than 500 miles from northern Texas to Nebraska in the afternoon hours.


The worst-case scenario tornado threat didn’t come to fruition, but storms still produced multiple dangerous tornadoes in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Nebraska.

At least five counties in Oklahoma were damaged by storms, according to the state’s emergency management. Pittsburg County, in eastern Oklahoma, was hit hard by a tornado in the evening.

Sheriff’s deputies, fire personnel, and emergency management services were assessing damage, authorities said Monday. They were also checking for individuals who may be injured or trapped, the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.

“Please avoid the areas damaged by the storm at this time as emergency services are in the area,” the agency said.