Multiple tornadoes were reported across parts of the South and the Midwest on Wednesday, as a powerful storm that is expected to linger for days swept into the region.
Multiple injuries were reported in Kentucky and Arkansas, including a child in critical condition, and one person was trapped in a collapsed warehouse in Indiana, officials said. The tornadoes knocked down trees, disrupted power, and damaged homes and businesses, the authorities said.
The National Weather Service issued tornado watches and warnings on Wednesday across an area that stretched hundreds of miles from Arkansas to Illinois. Over 200,000 customers across Indiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee had no power late Wednesday. More than half of them were in Indiana.
Eighteen tornadoes had been reported since Wednesday morning across Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri, according to the Weather Service. Nine were in Missouri.
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In Arkansas, the Division of Emergency Management said it had received reports of tornadoes on the ground. Four injuries were reported in Craighead County, and 22 counties across the state reported storm damage to homes, trees, power lines and roads, officials said.
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In Indiana, emergency workers were working to free a person who was trapped after a warehouse for the kitchenware company Sur La Table collapsed in the town of Brownsburg, said Jennifer Barrett of the local police department.
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In Kentucky, four people in a van in the path of a tornado were injured in Ballard County, including an eight-year-old boy who was in critical condition, said Travis Holder, the director of the county’s emergency management office. A tornado also narrowly missed the Weather Service’s office in the city of Paducah, knocking out its main power supply, the agency said on social media.
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In Missouri, the damage from a tornado in the city of Nevada was extensive and there were reports of one injury, said Gary Edwards, the city manager.
The storm system originated on the West Coast on Monday and churned across the Plains on Tuesday. But forecasters predicted that thunderstorms could produce destructive winds, large hail and significant long-track tornadoes across an area that included parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
Forecasters have warned that the storm system generating the tornadoes was expected to stall by Thursday, and that 10 to 15 inches of rain may fall in some parts of the South and Midwest over the next five days. That has prompted officials in some states to issue flooding alerts.
Nazaneen Ghaffar, Judson Jones and Yan Zhuang contributed reporting.