Deadly storm leaves power outages, flooding in central US

Hundreds of thousands of people were without power on Tuesday and trying to clean up damaged homes and clear roads after a deadly storm that brought tornadoes, high winds, hail and heavy rain to the central United States.

Six Midwest states — North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri — were dealing with significant flooding and there were pockets in some other states. By the weekend, the Mississippi River will be at major flood stage along many Iowa, Illinois and Missouri communities, forecasters said. River flooding could close highways, potentially top levees and threaten some homes and businesses.

Iowa took a direct hit, with hail measuring 3 to 4 inches in diameter and peak winds of 90 miles per hour recorded, said National Weather Service spokesman Pat Slattery. Cars were damaged and windows were broken by the hailstorms, the NWS said.

Rescue crews on Tuesday afternoon recovered the body of 17-year-old Logan Blake, who was swept away in a Cedar Rapids storm drain Monday night. Authorities say his body was found in three feet of water in a lake one mile away. Blake was with friends on the grounds of an elementary school when he was pulled into the drain by fast-moving water.

Illinois was hit particularly hard, as flooding, downed trees and fires caused by lightning strikes snarled traffic, cut power and delayed or canceled hundreds of flights in and out of Chicago.

"It's been a ride. This was a lot of wind and a lot of lightning," said ComEd spokeswoman Kim Morris-Johnson.

About 400,000 ComEd customers lost power in the storm and 153,000 remained without power on Tuesday afternoon, mainly in the region south of Chicago, the company said.

National Weather Service spokesman Pat Slattery said the storm system triggered a "mini-tornado outbreak" in northern Missouri, including one in the Kansas City metropolitan area that toppled several trees onto roadways. Twisters also damaged homes in Nebraska and Iowa, he said.

In southeast Michigan, about 140,000 DTE Energy customers lost power at the height of the storm because of high winds and lightning and 90,000 were without service on Tuesday afternoon.

At O'Hare International Airport, more than 200 flights were canceled and 600 delayed on Monday night because of the storm, according to Flightaware.com.

The storm system moved east and skies cleared on Tuesday over the U.S. Midwest, but flooding remained a concern with rising levels along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers particularly worrisome, Slattery said.

Wire services