Destructive storms that spawned more than a dozen tornadoes across the South and killed at least eight people swept through parts of the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic on Monday.
About 90 million people were subject to destructive weather that left a trail of destruction stretching from Texas, where it flattened a town, to the Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.
On Monday, heavy rain, lightning and strong winds lashed the mid-Atlantic region — disrupting rail service, causing delays at airports and leaving tens of thousands of utility customers without power.
The same storm system earlier dumped up to six inches of snow across parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, northern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin.
“Springtime is definitely a ramp-up time for severe weather,” said National Weather Service forecaster Bob Oravec.
In Stafford County, Virginia — about an hour south of the District of Columbia — authorities said a tree fell on a house and killed a woman early Monday.
According to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, local police reported that a 78-year-old unidentified woman was asleep when the tree fell. An 82-year-old man in the same home was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Residents across parts of New Jersey on Monday participated in tornado watches, as reports emerged of flooding and a roof collapse at an apartment complex in Camden. No injuries were reported.
The Cherry Hill Courier-Post reported that a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service at 3:19 a.m. set off “cell-phone alarms and an unusual level of Facebook activity at that hour” but that “a few hours later, brilliant sunshine took over, revealing fallen trees and other damage.”
The storm knocked out power for more than 20,000 customers in New Jersey before crews restored service to the majority of them.
Vermont officials reported that flooding from spring rains closed several roads Monday and that an emergency operations center had been activated to help communities respond to the flooding.
On Monday, the National Weather Service was taking stock of tornado reports from across the country. It confirmed that a twister significantly damaged a lumber company Sunday evening in Starbrick in northern Pennsylvania.
Weather service officials said a survey team also found evidence of an EF-3 twister with winds of at least 136 mph near Weches, Texas, and two other smaller tornadoes touched down in the same region on Saturday. Another EF-3 twister flattened part of Franklin, Texas.
Mississippi confirmed 11 tornadoes, and Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency and met with Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to assess the damage.
At least one person was killed and several others injured in Monroe County, Mississippi, after a large tornado swept through the town of Hamilton over the weekend.
At least three tornadoes struck Alabama, where one person died. Four people were killed in Texas, with other victims in Louisiana and Mississippi.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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