A series of severe storms and multiple tornadoes caused devastation across the Midwest and East Coast, killing at least one person in upstate New York and an elderly couple in Illinois on Tuesday.
New York Governor Kathy Hawkle declared a state of emergency after the storm caused widespread damage, destroyed buildings and trees, and left more than 100,000 homes without power, according to poweroutage.us.
One person was killed in the village of Canastota, about 25 miles east of Syracuse, where “numerous trees and power lines” were downed, several roads were impassable and some areas were evacuated, according to the emergency declaration.
Further east, the storm battered Rome, a city of 31,000 people, destroying homes and uprooting trees.
“It’s like a battlefield.”
Rome Mayor Jeffrey Lanigan said the storm had caused devastating damage to the town’s historic downtown, toppling the spires of two 19th century churches and permanently changing the city’s landscape.
“It feels like a war zone, to be honest with you,” Lanigan said at a news conference Tuesday night.
“It tugs at the heartstrings,” he said.
Authorities warned Rome residents to avoid roads and to be on the lookout for downed power lines that may have caused power outages.
Hawkle posted on X that he was in contact with local authorities and would be deploying additional resources to the affected areas.
The National Weather Service in Binghamton said it would be conducting a storm survey in the town on Wednesday to investigate reports of a tornado. The weather service issued a tornado warning for the area Tuesday afternoon.
“When something like this happens, it’s easy to believe it was a tornado,” Oneida County Mayor Anthony Picente said at a news conference.
The National Weather Service in Buffalo confirmed that a tornado had touched down the previous day in the city of Canandaigua, about 100 miles west of Rome. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, part of the USA Today Network, reported that the tornado was rated an EF-0 and traveled about three-quarters of a mile, downing trees around Canandaigua Lake.
A view of the aftermath of a tornado on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Rome, New York.
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Floods kill two in Midwest
Meanwhile, parts of Iowa, Indiana and Illinois were hit by flooding, with thunderstorms drowning areas and producing several tornadoes.
An 88-year-old couple died after their car was swept away by floodwaters in rural Illinois on Tuesday afternoon.
The Jersey County Sheriff’s Office said the couple’s sinking car was discovered by a 70-year-old man, and local police were able to rescue him from the flash flooding that hit about 35 miles north of downtown St. Louis. Authorities later found the woman dead in the car and her husband’s body on a nearby bank.
East of St. Louis, in Nashville, Illinois, more than 6 inches of rain fell and about 200 residents were evacuated after a dam was “on the brink of failure,” local officials said. By Tuesday evening, “immediate safety concerns” had been resolved and nearby interstate highways had reopened, according to Washington County Emergency Management.
The flooding came after a derecho brought severe storms and tornadoes to the region on Monday – a rare and destructive wind storm that can bring sudden thunderstorms and rain showers.
The National Weather Service confirmed that 11 tornadoes passed through northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana that night, including one near Chicago O’Hare International Airport, forcing travelers to evacuate.
The weather service also confirmed that an EF-1 tornado moved near Des Moines on Monday with winds of more than 100 mph, causing widespread damage and power outages, The Des Moines Register, a part of the USA Today Network, reported.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Severe storms batter upstate New York, flash floods hit Midwest