Deadly severe storm outbreak enters sixth day as threat shifts east
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By Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Mary Gilbert
(CNN) — Parts of the South are facing the threat of damaging winds, destructive hail and possible tornadoes on Tuesday, as a multi-day severe thunderstorm outbreak enters its sixth day. At least one person was killed on Monday and hundreds of thousands were left without power.
The latest rash of severe storms Monday into early Tuesday were not as tornadic as they could have been. The storms produced more than 200 reports of wind damage and large hail from Missouri and northern Arkansas to Indiana, and there were a few reports of tornadoes — including a damaging one in Arkansas. But the ingredients to fuel the higher-end threat of twisters that were expected in the region didn’t come together.
A Level 3 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms is in place Tuesday afternoon and evening for much of Arkansas and parts of southern Missouri, southeastern Oklahoma, northeast Texas, northern Louisiana and central and northern Mississippi. Multiple rounds of damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes threaten millions Tuesday across a broader zone from the lower Mississippi Valley to the Tennessee Valley.
Damage in the dark
A tornado moved through several towns in Clinton County, Illinois, including Germantown and Carlyle, Monday evening. This storm damaged homes, knocked down trees and power lines and blocked roads, according to Clinton County Emergency Management Director Timothy Schleper. The American Red Cross was responding to help displaced residents. No injuries or deaths were reported, and damage assessments are expected to continue Tuesday.
Just before 11 p.m. CT, the National Weather Service in Little Rock, Arkansas, issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation tornado warning for an observed, destructive tornado moving through Hanover and surrounding communities in Stone County. The tornado appeared to stay on the ground in Arkansas for about 10 miles, with debris lofted high into the air and wrapped around the back side of the storm.
The Stone County Sheriff’s Office reported damaged homes and vehicles, downed power lines and fallen trees blocking roads as emergency crews responded across the area overnight. No injuries or deaths have been reported.
Some areas in Michigan and Wisconsin saw damage from a weather phenomenon called a wake low, which is a relatively small weather system that contains a potent line of high winds. Wake lows form behind showers or thunderstorms, as one did after rain moved through the Upper Midwest on Monday morning.
A 39-year-old man was killed in Kent County in western Michigan after a tree fell on him during strong winds Monday evening, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Friends of the man told authorities he warned them of the falling tree, an action they said saved lives, the release said.
The northern part of the county has seen downed trees and power lines but no other injuries, said Scott Dietrich, public information officer with the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
Some structures and a trailer were also damaged after trees fell in Calhoun County in south-central Michigan, but there are no injuries reported, said Dispatch Director Michael Armitage.
Some of those high winds also caused a tree to fall on Carson Kellogg’s home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was sitting on his couch when he heard a loud crack.
“I ran off the couch because I thought it would hit me. I was really shaken up,” he told CNN.
More than 300,000 people across the wide swath of areas under threat are experiencing power outages, as of early Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us. This includes 60,000 in Wisconsin and Michigan after the two states saw 120,000 in combined outages Monday evening.
Relentless storms battered the central US last week
A violent tornado tore through Enid, Oklahoma, Thursday evening, triggering a rare tornado emergency and causing EF4 damage in parts of the city, with some areas flattened.
The Enid tornado, with winds estimated at 170 to 175 mph, was the strongest in the US since June 2025. At least 10 people were injured and about 40 homes were damaged, though officials said no deaths were reported.
Deadly tornadoes struck North Texas Saturday, including an EF2 tornado near Runaway Bay, about 80 miles northwest of Dallas. At least two people were killed and homes and infrastructure were damaged, displacing dozens of residents and expanding the toll of the multiday severe weather outbreak.
This story has been updated with new information.
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Meteorologists Chris Dolce, Linda Lam and Dakota Smith and CNN’s Diego Mendoza, Taylor Romine, Hanna Park and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.
