More thunderstorms expected Tuesday after storms clobber Midwest, tornado confirmed
A line of severe thunderstorms will move east across the Midwest and into the East Coast on Tuesday after a large swath of the Midwest experienced severe weather the day before.
In Indianapolis, up to 3 inches of rainfall is expected on Tuesday, triggering the weather service to issue a flash flood threat for southern-central Indiana into the early hours of Wednesday.
As of early Tuesday, more than 545,000 customers were without power in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, according to poweroutage.us.
Severe thunderstorms could also strike the New York area on Tuesday. The agency's Albany office warned of heavy rainfall and damaging winds that could down power lines as scattered storms spread through the evening.
The severe weather on Tuesday comes after a "complex of destructive storms" moved across eastern Iowa into northern Illinois on Monday night, according to the National Weather Service office in Chicago. Multiple tornadoes were reported along the line of storms as it moved through the Chicago metro, the agency said, adding that its staff had to briefly seek shelter from a tornado.
At least one tornado was confirmed by radar near Sugar Grove, a village about 46 miles west of Chicago, according to the weather service.
People at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were advised to seek shelter on Monday night amid the tornado warnings. More than 60 flights were canceled and more than 400 were delayed, according to FlightAware.
More:Video shows passengers sheltering in place at Chicago airports due to possible tornadoes
By late Monday, the agency said Cook County — the most populous county in Illinois and includes Chicago — was "tornado warning free" after dozens of circulations moved over Lake Michigan.
But the agency warned that damaging winds remained as the line of storms moved across northwest Indiana. "There was a lot of damage across our area," the weather service office in Chicago said on X.
The line of storms was expected to "reorganize and trend severe" as they moved east into Monday night, according to AccuWeather. A tornado warning was issued for parts of northern Indiana, with the weather service warning of dangerous flying debris and damage to mobile homes, roofs, windows, and vehicles.
"The storms in Milwaukee and Chicago will be closer to the evening commute, and much of Michigan and Indiana, including Detroit and Indianapolis, will have their highest risk of severe thunderstorms during the overnight hours," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys.
Heat continues
Meanwhile, scorching heat continued for a third week this month as more than 151 million people remained under heat alerts across the country on Monday, according to heat.gov. In Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the weather service warned of a "dangerously hot and humid" day, with temperatures expected to reach 102 degrees.
The weekslong heat wave has already set dozens of records and will challenge more records through the week, AccuWeather said.
The Weather Prediction Center said hot temperatures are expected for much of the eastern half of the U.S., with major to extreme heat risk possible.
Hurricane Beryl:Beryl produced so many tornado warnings it broke a record
Tornado confirmed in Iowa with thousands of homes left in the dark
The National Weather Service confirmed that at least one tornado touched down in the Urbandale area — a city part of the Des Moines metro area — on Monday evening. A round of severe weather tore through the area and a severe thunderstorm watch was in effect until 11 p.m. local time.
The Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported that more than 10,000 homes in the Des Moines metro area will stay in the dark Monday night.
MidAmerican Energy Company has the most significant damage in areas around Windsor Heights and Urbandale, said Geoff Greenwood, a spokesperson for the company. More than 4,500 households in those cities are without power along with 4,500 in Des Moines.
3 suspected heat-related deaths at Utah parks
Earlier Monday, the San Juan County Sheriff's Office in southeast Utah confirmed that a man and his daughter died late last week after they ran out of water during a hike.
The sheriff's office said it was notified at 5:45 p.m. on July 12 of a deceased hiker in the Canyonlands National Park. About 15 minutes later, a second deceased hiker was reported in the same area.
The National Park Service reported that the pair of hikers were a father and daughter "who had become lost while hiking, according to the sheriff's office. The air temperature at the time of the incident was over 100 degrees, the National Park Service said.
"Dispatch informed NPS of emergency 911 texts from the hikers, reporting that they were lost and out of water," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The father and daughter were identified as Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and Beatriz Herrera, 23, both from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
On Saturday, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department in southwest Utah said first responders were dispatched to the Snow Canyon State Park, where preliminary information showed two individuals "suffering from a heat-related incident." The two individuals had signs of heat exhaustion and were transported to a hospital.
"While on the scene, a passerby contacted police and reported that a third individual was unconscious a short distance away," the department said in a news release. "The individual was identified as a 30-year-old female."
First responders determined that the woman was deceased, according to the department. Her death is being investigated by the department.
Dozens of heat-related deaths have been reported by state officials and local media this month. Although the death toll is expected to increase as the summer continues, experts previously told USA TODAY that the true death toll is likely higher.
Illinois man dies after truck sinks in floodwaters
Officials in Rockford, Illinois are investigating the death of a 76-year-old man who was trapped as flood waters swept away a pickup truck on Sunday, the Rockford Register Star, part of the USAT TODAY Network, reported.
The man was riding in the passenger seat of a Dodge Dakota truck as the woman driving tried to leave a parking lot inundated with flood water, according to the Winnebago County Coroner's Office.
When the truck was pulled into a nearby creek, the driver escaped through a window and was rescued, officials said. The man was trapped in the truck as it sank below the water. Local law enforcement tried to pull him out, but could not rescue him.
The truck was pulled from the creek and the man was pronounced dead around three hours later.
Authorities have not named either the man who died or the woman who was rescued.
Contributing: Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez, Ryan Magalhães, and Addison Lathers, Des Moines Register
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