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Tornadoes damage homes and power lines as storms wallop Midwest, South

Severe storm damage is shown off 96th Street North between Garnett Road and Mingo Road Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Owasso, Okla. Tulsa World via AP

Tornadoes and violent storms struck parts of the South and Midwest on Wednesday, knocking down power lines and trees, ripping roofs off homes and shooting debris thousands of feet into the air as a swath of severe weather hit the region.

A tornado emergency was briefly issued in northeast Arkansas, with the National Weather Service’s office in Memphis, Tennessee, telling residents on the social platform X: “This is a life threatening situation. Seek shelter now.” The emergency was lifted, though area residents remained under a tornado warning.

The South and Midwest also braced for potentially deadly flash flooding over coming days as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged, forecasters warned.

Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued in parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi as the swath of storms hit those and other states Wednesday evening. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to daytime heating combining with an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming into the nation's midsection from the Gulf.

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