The remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur battered parts of the southeastern United States with heavy rain and wind on Thursday, damaging buildings, downing trees and knocking out power as flash flood and tornado warnings were issued along the Gulf Coast.
The Midwest, meanwhile, was also dealing with damage after a strong line of storms tore through parts of Illinois, Indiana and northern Kentucky on Wednesday, bringing possible tornadoes. Scores of homes were left without electricity.
Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin.
Coni Dubois said several inches of water flooded her home overnight in Houma, southwest of New Orleans, but others in the community had worse damage. She’s lived through many hurricanes and other storms, but never witnessed thunder and lightning like this.
“It was unbelievable, it literally sounded like hell broke open,” Dubois said. “I thought for sure we had a tornado on top of us. The lightning and the thunder was so consistent, the whole house was lit up like daylight for about 20 minutes.”
Arthur weakened into a low-pressure area along the upper Texas coast Wednesday night, but its remnants were expected to dump 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) or more of rain across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle through Friday, according to forecasters.
Rain was falling at rates of up to 3 inches (8 centimeters) per hour in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi on Thursday, prompting flash flooding, tornado warnings and widespread power outages. The region had already been soaked by heavy rain earlier in the week.
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno posted a video on Facebook describing relatively minor damage and cleanup efforts. Ahead of the storm, police prepared boats and set up barricades in flood-prone areas. They also opened sandbag distribution sites across Louisiana.
In the Midwest, more than 130,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday afternoon in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, according to poweroutage.us.
A tornado was reported Wednesday evening near Effingham, Illinois, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Springfield. Several people suffered minor injuries, officials said.
Firefighters responded to damaged homes, collapsed structures, car crashes, downed power lines, gas leaks and blocked roads, Effingham Fire Chief Brant Yochum said.
Marla Washburn and her husband, Todd, hunkered down in their basement as a suspected tornado tore through their neighborhood about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north in Blue Mound. They could hear debris smacking into their house and a school across the street lost its roof, which came crashing onto their home.
“The whole house shook," Washburn said in a phone interview, adding that the neighborhood looks like Armageddon.
“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but we’re OK," she said. “You look at it and you go, ‘I don’t even know where to start to clean up.’”
Also north of Effingham, the weather service reported that a tractor trailer flipped over in high winds on Interstate 57, injuring the driver.
Damage from strong winds and a possible tornado were also reported in Florence, Kentucky, near Cincinnati, with news video and photos showing roofs and siding ripped off, as well as downed trees and power lines.
The weather service got numerous reports of wind damage across a wide swath, from Iowa and Missouri to Ohio and West Virginia.
The strong storms were expected to move through the central Appalachians to New England on Thursday, the weather service said.
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