Deadly, relentless storms batter Midwest and Ohio Valley, with more flooding ahead

By Meteorologists Dakota Smith and Briana Waxman

(CNN) — Deadly storms unleashed flooding and destructive winds from the Midwest to the Appalachians on Tuesday, killing at least one person and knocking out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses.

One other person was found dead after an apparent explosion and house fire in Portage, Indiana, where police preliminarily suspect trees knocked down by the storm may have damaged natural gas lines, though the cause remains under investigation.

More heavy rain and severe thunderstorms will threaten many of the same areas Wednesday, where saturated ground and widespread outages could compound the danger.

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Here’s the latest:

• Death in Indiana: A 4-year-old child died in southeastern Indiana on Tuesday after a tree fell on a house in Geneva Township, according to Cody Low, chief deputy for the Jennings County sheriff’s department. The child was “either entrapped or injured” when the 911 call came in around 3:30 p.m., but when responders arrived they found the child dead in the home, Low told CNN.
• Lightning strike at Ohio prison: Sixteen inmates were taken to a hospital after lightning struck Grafton Correctional Institution in Lorain County, Ohio, Tuesday evening as they returned from dinner, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said. No deaths were reported, the department said.
• Destructive winds: A derecho, or long-lasting line of storms with damaging winds, brought gusts over 75 mph across a 300-mile-long stretch of the Midwest Tuesday afternoon, from northeast Iowa to northern Indiana. Hurricane-force wind gusts over 90 mph were clocked in parts of Chicago, and Columbus, Ohio, experienced gusts over 80 mph.
• Widespread power outages: More than one million homes and businesses across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia were without power Tuesday evening, according to PowerOutage.us. Outages in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio alone topped 900,000. As of early Wednesday morning, more than 800,000 customers remain in the dark.
• Flash flood emergency: Water rescues were reported Tuesday morning in Perry County, Ohio, the state’s emergency management director told CNN. Videos on social media showed rescuers in rafts navigating powerful currents of water coursing through the streets of Crooksville, a village in the county. A rare flash flood emergency – the highest level of flash flood warning – was issued there early Tuesday after about a month’s worth of rain fell in 3 hours. New rounds of heavy rain arrived later in the morning, threatening to worsen the flooding and hamper rescue efforts.
• Rescues in Pennsylvania: Flooding damaged homes, vehicles, roads and a railroad around Confluence, Pennsylvania, local officials said. Ten people were rescued from a flooded home near Confluence Tuesday morning, fire chief Tyler Byrd told CNN. Another person was also rescued from the roof of a vehicle, he said. The area saw 3 to 5 inches of rain over several hours early Tuesday.

Hundreds forced from homes amid Ohio flooding

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in both Perry and Muskingum counties Tuesday afternoon and activated a National Guard high-water rescue unit for those areas. He said he expects other counties will be added to the emergency declaration as the storms play out in coming days.

One person died in Roseville, which straddles both counties, after suffering an emergency and first responders were unable to reach them, DeWine said at a news conference Tuesday. Roseville “is completely surrounded by water,” the governor added, while stressing that the multiday threat from the storms applies across Ohio.

“We are in a very dangerous weather situation that really involves all of Ohio. It is unusual to see this, but danger can be anywhere in the state,” DeWine warned.

As of Tuesday morning, around 200 people were forced to leave or were unable to access their homes after floodwater rose 6 to 10 feet in low-lying areas of Perry County, Ohio Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Sima Merick told CNN. Flooding also overtopped two bridges there.

Two swift water rescue teams from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources were deployed to assist with rescues Tuesday morning, according to Merick, joining response teams from adjacent counties. Multiple roads in Perry County were closed due to high water, according to Ohio transportation department spokesperson Chas Cosgrave.

More rain targets the same storm-weary areas

Another round of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms will threaten areas from the Plains through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys Wednesday, including many communities still without power after Tuesday’s storms.

A Level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rain stretches from eastern Nebraska and Iowa through parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.

Storms could produce rainfall rates of up to 3 inches per hour, with localized totals approaching 6 inches where multiple rounds repeatedly track over the same locations. Even lower rainfall totals could quickly cause flooding where the ground is saturated from deluges earlier this week.

Exactly where the most dangerous flooding will develop remains uncertain. Forecast guidance has struggled to pinpoint the heaviest rain during this week’s chaotic storm pattern, and the placement of storms early Wednesday will influence where additional rounds develop later in the day.

Some storms could form across northern Illinois by midmorning before spreading south and east into central Illinois, Indiana and the lower Ohio Valley during the afternoon and evening. Damaging winds will be the primary severe threat, though isolated large hail is also possible.

Such extreme rainfall is becoming more common in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture that storms can tap into and wring out in more intense spurts.

A Level 2 of 5 severe storm threat covers much of central Illinois, Indiana and western Kentucky. Wednesday’s storms are not expected to be as widespread and destructive as Tuesday’s derecho, but they could still topple trees and cause new power outages in already hard-hit communities.

Farther west, storms could develop in the central Plains Wednesday afternoon, then expand east. These storms could initially produce large hail and damaging winds before merging into a larger complex capable of torrential rain.

The flood threat will persist Thursday as additional storms track through many of the same areas. Repeated rounds of rain could push multiday totals above 6 inches in some locations. Over 6 inches of rain is close to double the average August rainfall of 3.43 inches in Cincinnati and 3.75 inches in Charleston, West Virginia.

The pattern should finally begin to break this weekend as high pressure builds over the region and suppresses widespread storm development.

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Meteorologist Chris Dolce and CNN’s Kate S. Peterson and Avni Trivedi contributed to this report.