Two people were killed in Washington and Mississippi, and hundreds of thousands are without power across the country as severe weather causes havoc across the nation.
Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue said that the person died in the city of Monroe, northeast of Seattle, when a tree fell on their vehicle. "Unfortunately, this incident turned out to be fatal for the only occupant in the vehicle," the fire service said on Facebook.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency reported one death and three injuries in Lawrence County, as well as storm damage to homes.
The severe West Coast weather comes as many parts of the country were hit by storms, including at least 27 tornadoes in the Midwest alone, in the last 48 hours. An elderly couple from Lake Village, Indiana, was killed Tuesday night, and multiple others were hospitalized as a result of tornadoes and a powerful long-track thunderstorm that lasted more than seven hours.
The Newton County Coroner's office confirmed that Edward L. Kozlowski, 89, and his wife, Arlene Kozlowski, 84, were killed when a tornado struck their home.
The National Weather Service office in Chicago preliminarily confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday, one of them rated EF-3 on the six-step Enhanced Fujita scale, meaning it had sustained wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph.
Hundreds of homes were damaged in Indiana, authorities said, with dozens completely destroyed. The NWS said that hail as large as 6 inches wide was found in Illinois.
David Ferris of Lake Village said he, his wife, and their dogs “rode it out in our downstairs bathtub.” They were unscathed, except for losing power. Ferris, who is a paramedic, helped rescue and treat injured people.
“We had another house where a guy crawled out,” Ferris said. “He was having some trouble breathing because he was covered in house insulation.”
Ferris said a Family Dollar store and a gas station were destroyed, and multiple large trees were uprooted.
Newlywed Cassidy Sinwelski, 23, said she and her husband were aware of the tornado watch in their Lake Village neighborhood and were expecting a run-of-the-mill storm until her husband spotted dark clouds barreling toward them.
“We went into the bathroom, got a piece of plywood and within minutes, I closed my eyes, the lights flickered, and we just — there was nothing,” Sinwelski said.
The volatile weather is set to continue on Thursday, with widespread showers and thunderstorms from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast coast. Storms could be severe for Georgia, South Carolina and northern Florida.
Across the Southeast, a tornado Watch is in effect until 1 p.m. ET for eastern Georgia, much of South Carolina and the Florida Panhandle. Thunderstorms capable of strong winds and a tornado or two will be possible through early afternoon until the storms move off the Atlantic coast.
And some 80 million people in a northern band of the country, from Cleveland, Ohio, to Washington State, are under some form of high-wind alert, with winds expected to reach 60 mph in some areas.
The Northeast will be hit by gusty winds and rain during the morning rush hour and through the day.
Looking ahead, a clipper system is moving south from Canada and set to bring snow to North Dakota, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, with winter weather alerts in place all the way to New England.
Northern cities, including Duluth, Minnesota, and Marquette, Michigan, could experience 6 to 9 inches of snow with locally higher amounts up to 12 inches.
