40 million people in the Midwest in path of severe weather, possible tornadoes
More than 40 million people from Kansas City to Chicago are in the path of severe weather on Wednesday, a day after a tornado tore through a Michigan town, damaging numerous homes.
Destructive winds in excess of 70 mph, tennis ball-sized hail, and strong tornadoes are all possible across the Midwest on Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday.
Some areas of the Midwest are at risk of multiple rounds of storms that could produce flash flooding.
Minneapolis; Omaha, Nebraska; and Wichita, Kansas, are also under a level 2 out of 5 threat for severe weather on Wednesday afternoon.
On Thursday, the threat for severe weather will be at a 3 out of 5 for parts of Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois -- including the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin and Springfield, Illinois. The areas are at risk of destructive winds of up to 80 mph, large hail and strong tornadoes.
On Thursday morning, Iowa is expected to see a destructive storm complex roll through the state and into Wisconsin.
'It literally sounded like a freight train'
The blustery weather comes on the heels of an EF-1 tornado that ripped through the town of Freeland, Michigan, about 13 miles north of Saginaw, on Tuesday afternoon. The twister damaged 40 homes and businesses in the community, local officials said.
The tornado ripped the roof off an auto shop as workers hunkered down inside.
"I was in my shop, and then it was like all of a sudden, my brother came running out. He said, 'We got to take cover.' When somebody says, 'We gotta take cover,' it's too late," Al Wisniewski, owner of AW Racecars, told ABC affiliate station WJRT in Flint, Michigan.
Wisniewski said he sheltered in place in his automotive shop as the twister hit.
"It literally sounded like a freight train coming through here," said Wisniewski, adding that neither he nor other workers in the shop were injured. "The whole building was shaking and everything, and there's no place to go."
Also on Tuesday, the town of Lanesville, Indiana, about 17 miles west of Louisville, Kentucky, was hit with flash flooding after more than a half-foot of rain fell in two hours, officials said.
Storm threat moving East amid summer-like heat in New York City
On Thursday, New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, are forecast to be at a level 2 out of 5 threat for severe weather.
Meanwhile, temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are expected to rise along with the humidity.
New York City and Washington, D.C., are forecast to reach the 90s on Thursday and possibly on Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, Raleigh, North Carolina, is forecast to hit the century mark on Thursday and Friday.
Heat indices, or what the temperature feels like, are expected to be in the mid-90s to near 100 degrees from New York to the Vermont border.
But the summer-like weather in the Northeast is also expected to come with severe weather. Storms are expected to reach cities along the I-95 corridor in the Northeast on Thursday evening.
The mix of hot and severe weather in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic is expected to continue into Friday.
