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June 13th, 2013 
Peter Nolan 
Scott Eisen / AP
Lightning flashes over Chicago’s skyline on Wednesday.
Devastating winds, hail and even tornadoes were forecast for the East Coast on Thursday, caused by a massive storm system that tormented the Midwest a day earlier.
Flood warnings were in effect for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, while severe thunderstorms are also possible in the South and Southeast.
A string of thunderstorms whipped through the Midwest on Wednesday, bringing with them tornadoes reported from Iowa to Indiana. The East Coast is bracing for the same severe storms today. NBC’s Kristen Dahlgren and Al Roker report.
Roughly 62 million Americans are in the path of severe weather, MSNBC Meteorologist Bill Karins said. The worst of it could be in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Va., and Philadelphia.
However, there were no reports early Thursday of any dreaded derechos – straight-line windstorms whose gusts can reach hurricane force. Karins said the conditions needed to produce a derecho no longer were present.
At least 55,000 customers were without power in Illinois and northwest Indiana after the storm system pushed through the Upper Midwest Wednesday, bringing suspected tornadoes to Chicago and Ohio.
Thursday’s tornado threat extended all the way from southern New Jersey and southern Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast, said Weather Channel forecaster Greg Forbes. The tornado threat was highest from north and east Virginia to east Pennsylvania and central New Jersey.
New York and surrounding suburbs, already saturated with up to 7 inches of rain from the downpours Friday and Monday, primarily face the threat of more flooding, NBCNewYork reported.
A powerful supercell system pushing through metropolitan Cleveland in the early hours of Thursday, which forecasters earlier predicted would bring baseball-sized hailstones and more high winds.
It was the end of what Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel had earlier warned was going to be a “long and ugly night” for Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Indianapolis and the rest of the Midwest.
Kevin Gold / NOAA, file
This photo taken in LaPorte, Indiana, on June 29, 2012, shows a shelf cloud on the leading edge of a derecho.
At least 20,000 customers were without power in the Chicago area as of 2:30 a.m. ET, power company ComEd said, while a further 35,000 were affected in northwestern Indiana according to NBCChicago.com.
The storms delayed hundreds of people on planes and trains and created massive backups on area roadways. More than 360 flights were cancelled at O’Hare International Airport. For a time, all inbound flights to O’Hare were kept at their origin. Midway International, to the south, saw another 50 cancellations.
The Weather Channel reported “buildings destroyed” in Auglaize County as powerful winds blew through Ohio’s northern Miami Valley early Thursday, though no details were immediately available. In the same county, a semi truck was toppled by high winds, NBC station WDTN TV in Dayton reported.
In Lake Delton, Wis., a “very, very strong downpour of rain” caused the roof over a loading dock to collapse at a Wal-Mart store late Wednesday afternoon, police said.
Police Sgt. William Hitchcock told NBC station WTMJ of Milwaukee that no serious injuries were reported, but the store is likely to be closed through Thursday.
If a derecho had occurred overnight, it would probably last into Thursday, said meteorologist Bill Karins on MSNBC. But he stressed that forecasters weren’t sure.
“It’s like predicting a large tornado is going to happen,” he said. “No one can do that. The only thing we can do is say conditions are favorable for one to happen.”
NBC News’ Catherine Cetta, Justin Kirschner and Sophia Rosenbaum contributed to this report.
Related:
- Find out how a derecho packs its windy punch
- PhotoBlog: Lightning strikes Chicago’s Willis Tower
- Full coverage from weather.com
This story was originally published on Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:38 AM EDT
Source Article from http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/13/18931744-tornado-flood-alerts-as-storm-system-pushes-east?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=3
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