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Hours after deadly storms ripped through the Midwest, causing extensive damage in Illinois and Indiana, a severe weather risk took hold over the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic and across the northern Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
“A few tornadoes will be possible across these areas, along with damaging wind gusts. A few storms producing large hail are also possible within the northern storms,” the National Weather Service said on X.
Tornado watches are in effect in east Texas, Louisiana, northern Kentucky, southeast Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, western Maryland and Pennsylvania through Wednesday evening.
Overall, 62 million people remain at risk for severe weather in areas that stretch from east Texas to southern New Jersey.
Tornadoes were still possible Wednesday, but they are forecast to be less intense than Tuesday’s. Cities in the risk zone include Houston; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Nashville, Tennessee; Charleston, West Virginia; and Baltimore.
Storms could produce damaging winds, large hail, lightning and torrential downpours.
On Tuesday, Midwestern states were beleaguered by strong winds, storms, reports of tornadoes and hail.
The parent thunderstorm that produced tornadoes in northern Illinois and northern Indiana persisted for more than seven hours, along a 200-mile path. At least 16 tornado reports have been made across Texas, Illinois and Indiana.
A tornado emergency was declared in Knox, Indiana, on Tuesday, with the National Weather Service telling residents: "This is a life-threatening situation. Seek shelter now!"
An elderly couple from Lake Village, Indiana, were killed in the storms Tuesday night, officials said. Several other people were hospitalized because of the storms, officials added.
Ed and Arleen Kozlowski, who were married more than 60 years and were in their 80s, died in the tornado, their family said.
The two were remembered as “really awesome humans” by their grandson Matt Rehfeldt. Ed was a welder and worked on old cars, he said. Rehfeldt said that almost nothing in the couple's home was salvageable and that family members found just three photos.
Their son-in-law Steve Rehfeldt said, “They’ve both led a good life, and they died together, and by all appearances, it looks like it was very quick.”
Strong storms and heavy rain also hit many areas, with strong winds and hail the size of golf balls in the Chicago region.
NBC Chicago reported that there was significant but so far unquantified damage across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, including damage to homes, other buildings and roads.
Bob Wehrle, 60, told NBC News that he got an alert on his phone Tuesday night and that, once he started seeing debris flying through the air from the storm, he took shelter in a basement at his home in Kankakee, Illinois.
"Next thing I know, my kitchen is falling in on me," Wehrle said. "The house is falling in, and I’m looking at the sky."
Wehrle said that he was not hurt but that it took his neighbors and family members about an hour to dig him out of the devastation. His wife, Margaret, was not home because she was working at the hospital.
"The worst was there was a mini-fridge in our house that ended up kinda on top of me, on my legs, and I couldn’t get it open to get water out of it," he said, noting that he did not have to go to the hospital.
