© Michael ClevengerJessie Perez, and her aunt, Rebecca Aldridge, hid in a closet when a tornado came through Milton, Kentucky, on Thursday, March 14, 2024. A tree now occupies their kitchen but no one was hurt.
"THIS IS A VERY SERIOUS and dangerous tornado on the ground," the National Weather Service's Cleveland office wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Forecasters said they were monitoring two tornadic rotations including one in Crawford County Ohio and a stronger one in northern Ashland County.
The weather service warned that the threat of a few tornadoes was "likely." Forecasters also said scattered wind gusts up to 70 mph and hail the size of tennis balls are also possible.
Several central Ohio counties were also under tornado watches Thursday evening, just over two weeks after nine tornadoes hit the state on Feb. 28, knocking down trees and demolishing buildings.
'Significant injuries' in Indiana linked to severe storm, more tornadoes reported in Kentucky
Several people were significantly injured in Winchester, Indiana where severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes occurred Thursday afternoon.
Police in Ohio confirmed two deaths resulting from a fierce storm system in an email to The Associated Press early Friday. Chief Deputy Joe Kopus of the Logan County Sheriff's Office in Bellefontaine, Ohio, said there likely would be more fatalities discovered, noting there was heavy damage in Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russells Point.
The storm reportedly also destroyed a mobile home park and a Taco Bell in the eastern Indiana town and severely damaged other properties in Randolph County, about 85 miles east of Indianapolis. A funnel cloud was reported in southwestern Delaware County at around 8:20 p.m. EDT.
Further southeast, at several reported tornadoes wreaked havoc in southern Indiana and north-central Kentucky on Thursday.
Two tornadoes were confirmed outside of Madison, Indiana, one in Hanover and another in Switzerland County, according to the Indiana Emergency Management Agency.
No injuries have been reported but at least one home and a trailer were damaged. Nearly 9,000 power outages were reported in the state, USA TODAY's tracker showed.
In Kentucky, a tornado that touched down in the town of Milton damaged at least 50 structures, including homes, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark confirmed. Fallen trees and downed power lines were also reported.
Over 5,000 outages were reported in the state, according to USA TODAY's outage map.
Weather service meteorologists earlier warned that tornadoes and large hail could possibly threaten parts of north-central Texas and the Midwest with the greatest overall threat occurring across eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
One video captured what appeared to be a massive tornado in Kansas overnight has circulated online.
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