Powerful storms that killed three people in Mississippi and ripped roofs from buildings in a small Oklahoma town are charging across the nation, threatening more communities in the central to eastern United States with wide-ranging weather. Forecasters also are warning that a Pacific storm was expected to bring widespread rain and mountain snow across California and other parts of the West into Friday. Blizzard conditions in Nebraska and parts of southern Minnesota made travel there dangerous on Wednesday morning. A tornado watch was issued for portions of North Carolina and Virginia until Wednesday evening.
Tornado-spawning storms tearing across the eastern U.S. overnight killed a toddler in Michigan and injured five people in Maryland and eight more in Ohio. The toddler was killed and his mother was injured when a tornado struck suburban Detroit without warning. Officials say the tornado tore through several neighborhoods Wednesday — and there was no advance notice that would have normally led to the activation of warning sirens. Meanwhile, in Maryland, at least five people were injured when a tornado collapsed structures there. And early Thursday, a suspected tornado in Ohio ripped away a gas station canopy and damaged a restaurant and a store. An official says eight people were left with minor injuries, mostly from flying debris.
