Midwest tornado – A fresh tornado outbreak tore through parts of the Midwest Sunday evening, with nearly three dozen tornado reports logged as supercell thunderstorms moved east toward the Ohio Valley. In rural Jefferson County, Illinois, Sheriff Jeff Bullard said at least two
Sunday evening didn’t just bring bad weather—it brought silence where there should have been rooftops.
In rural Jefferson County. Illinois. at least two people were killed when tornadoes destroyed mobile homes. according to county Sheriff Jeff Bullard. The two deaths happened in separate mobile homes about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis, Bullard said, and the homes were destroyed roughly two to three miles apart.
Bullard also said a third home was completely leveled. Five other people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The storm left more damage than a count of destroyed homes can fully hold. Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Keith Hertenstein said the storms damaged at least 20 homes in the county. Trees and power lines were knocked down, leaving some residents without electricity.
Farther east, the damage pattern spread across state lines. In Gibson County, Indiana, several homes were “completely obliterated,” according to the county’s sheriff, Bruce Vanoven. Vanoven said the storm caused damage across multiple communities before moving east.
As crews worked an active scene, Vanoven urged residents to stay home. He warned that downed power lines and debris would be harder to see after dark.
The outbreak is part of a sequence that has left communities rattled. These storms followed another round of tornadoes just four days earlier that leveled buildings and caused widespread destruction across the region. That previous week’s storms also turned deadly, with multiple people killed across several states.
On Sunday. nearly three dozen tornado reports were logged by the Storm Prediction Center as a cluster of supercell thunderstorms tracked east toward the Ohio Valley. The storms erupted along frontal boundaries left behind by morning thunderstorms. As heat and humidity returned during the afternoon. the atmosphere rapidly recharged—turning thunderstorms into rotating supercells capable of producing tornadoes. large hail. and damaging winds.
Another danger came with the clouds, not just the winds. A Level 3 of 4 risk of flooding rain is in place for parts of the Central Plains. middle Mississippi Valley. and Ohio Valley. Heavy rain is expected Sunday night into Monday. with streams running high after repeated rounds of severe weather over the past two weeks—conditions that make flash flooding easier to trigger.
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. Monday’s main threat will be damaging wind gusts, but a tornado or two remains possible.
This story is still unfolding and will be updated.
Midwest tornadoes Jefferson County Illinois mobile homes destroyed Gibson County Indiana supercell thunderstorms flooding rain risk Ohio Valley storms