Residents told to 'leave now' as wildfires threaten Oklahoma towns
Winds of up to 75 mph were fanning multiple fast-moving Oklahoma wildfires on Wednesday morning, prompting evacuation orders for towns in the path of the flames, officials said.
Firefighters are battling blazes in Logan, Pawnee, Beckham and Roger Mills counties, including one about seven miles northwest of Sweetwater, near the Oklahoma-Texas border, officials said.
Residents of Meridian were ordered to evacuate early Wednesday as a fire came within two miles of the Logan County town. Officials rescinded the order after several hours as a cold front developed and raised humidity in the area, officials said.
In Roger Mills County, residents of Durham and Dead Warrior Lake were also told to evacuate around 4 a.m. local time Wednesday, as a fire nearby was spreading rapidly, officials said.
The fires erupted amid red flag warnings for extreme fire danger that were issued by the National Weather Service.
"Firefighters and incident responders should anticipate extreme fire behavior, including wind-driven and torching fire," the NWS office in Norman, Oklahoma, said in a social media post around 6 a.m.
There were no reports of injuries or structures damaged from the blazes.
The fires came on the heels of a 30,000 acre wildfire that erupted on Friday in Logan County and destroyed more than 100 homes. The Logan County fire was just 25% contained on Tuesday and officials suspect embers from the blaze caused the new fire near Meridian on Wednesday.
At one point over the weekend, there were 130 fires reported in 44 counties across Oklahoma that killed four people, destroyed more than 400 homes and burned a total of 170,000 acres, officials said.
The Oklahoma fires erupted amid severe weather across the South and Midwest, which included several deadly tornadoes and dust storms. At least 42 people were killed, including two young brothers in North Carolina when an uprooted tree fell on their mobile home.
Up to 26 million people were under red flag warnings on Wednesday morning from west Texas to Illinois. Dangerous fire conditions -- including high winds, dry vegetation and low humidity -- are also expected Wednesday in parts of West Virginia, eastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky.
Up to 75 million people were under high wind alerts on Wednesday in 20 states from Nebraska to Georgia.
Meanwhile, more than 3 million people were under a blizzard warning on Wednesday from Colorado to Minnesota, where blowing snow is expected to be so strong that visibility will be reduced to a quarter-mile or less, making travel on roadways hazardous. Snow accumulations could reach 2 to 10 inches across the area, with winds gusting over 70 mph.
A line of thunderstorms is expected to move through the upper Midwest on Wednesday, creating the risk of strong tornadoes. Cities with the greatest risk of seeing severe weather include Peoria and Springfield, Illinois. Severe weather is also expected to move into Chicago; Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky.
ABC News' Kenton Gewecke and Ginger Zee contributed to this report.
