Rash of tornadoes tears through the Midwest, killing at least 2

By Meteorologist Briana Waxman, CNN’s Hanna Park

(CNN) — Multiple tornadoes tore through Illinois and Indiana Sunday, killing at least two people as severe thunderstorms continue to sweep through the Midwest early Monday, knocking out power for tens of thousands across the region.

More than three dozen tornado reports were logged Sunday into Monday by the Storm Prediction Center, as supercell thunderstorms roared across the region.

This came on the heels of another round of tornadoes just four days earlier that leveled buildings and caused widespread destruction across the region. The previous week’s storms also turned deadly as repeated bouts of severe weather swept across the central US, killing multiple people across several states.

At least two people were killed Sunday in rural Jefferson County, Illinois, around 90 miles southeast of St. Louis, according to county Sheriff Jeff Bullard.

Both victims died in separate mobile homes that were destroyed about two to three miles apart, Bullard said. A third home was completely leveled and five other people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Bullard said.

The storms damaged at least 20 homes in the county, Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Keith Hertenstein said. Trees and power lines were knocked down, leaving some residents without electricity.

Earlier Sunday, one person was also found dead in Sedgwick County, Kansas, after authorities responded to a report of a home being blown off its foundation during the storms, the county said in a statement.

Tornadoes also tore through southern Indiana, where several homes were “completely obliterated,” Gibson County Sheriff Bruce Vanoven said Sunday. The storm caused damage across multiple communities in the area before moving east.

No injuries had been reported there as of Sunday evening. Vanoven urged residents to stay home as crews worked the active scene, warning that downed power lines and debris would be harder to see after dark.

The storm tore through a retirement community in neighboring Warrick County, Sheriff Mike Wilder told CNN. Two roofs collapsed at the Park Place Apartments in the town of Newburgh, trapping a woman who had to be rescued by emergency officials, Wilder said. The woman and two others suffered minor injuries but refused treatment at the scene.

Also in Newburgh, a woman visiting her parents at a different apartment complex witnessed debris “flying everywhere” and watched from her car as a tornado ripped through a parking lot and pool.

“It was like, boom … 200 yards from my vehicle, as I sat there with my car in reverse, ready to pull off,” Ka’Lisha Puckett told CNN. She said firefighters knocked on her parents’ door at Bell Pointe Apartments to prepare them to evacuate because of damage to their roof.

Destructive winds in Oklahoma

Farther west, a nasty line of thunderstorms from the same system raked through western and central Oklahoma after midnight CT Monday morning. Wind gusts topped 80 mph, with a 102 mph gust recorded at the Hinton Mesonet site, about 50 miles west of Oklahoma City.

Just after 1 a.m. CT, the National Weather Service issued their highest level of severe thunderstorm warning for the entire Oklahoma City metro area. In all caps with a rare exclamation mark, the warning stated, “THESE ARE DESTRUCTIVE STORMS FOR THE OKLAHOMA CITY METRO!” Torrential rain also brought visibility to near zero with these storms.

Multiple power flashes were caught on camera in El Reno, Oklahoma, around 1:30 a.m. as the area came under severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings, CNN affiliate KOCO reported.

Sunday’s storms erupted along frontal boundaries left behind by morning thunderstorms. As heat and humidity returned during the afternoon, the atmosphere rapidly recharged and thunderstorms evolved into rotating supercells capable of producing tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.

Heavy rainfall rates of more than one inch per hour pose an additional threat as repeated rounds of storms over the past two weeks have left streams running high and made flash flooding easier to trigger in these areas.

The same storm system is expected to push into the mid-Atlantic and Appalachian regions Monday, bringing a Level 2 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms. The main threat Monday will be damaging wind gusts, but a tornado or two are not out of the question.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Amanda Musa and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.