OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Latest on storm damage in the Southern Plains and Midwest (all times local):
10 p.m.
Tornadoes have touched down near Joplin, Missouri, on the eighth anniversary of a massive twister that devastated the city and killed 161 people there.
Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammer said a tornado started Wednesday night southwest of the small town of Carl Junction and moved northeast through the towns of Oronogo and Golden City. Carl Junction is about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) north of Joplin.
Stammer said authorities were conducting a house-to-house search in Carl Junction to determine whether anyone was hurt but no injuries were reported. He said roofs of homes were damaged, along with fences, farm buildings and utility poles.
Stammer said officials won’t know the true extent of the damage until the morning.
The Joplin Globe also reported that the National Weather Services confirmed a tornado in Galena, southwest of Springfield, near Branson.
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This version of the Latest corrects that Galena is southwest of Springfield, Missouri, not Joplin.
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9:40 p.m.
Two runaway barges are loose on the swift, flooded Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, spreading alarm downstream as they threaten a dam.
Downstream is the small riverfront town of Webbers Falls, home to about 600 residents. Town officials had already ordered the town evacuated Wednesday afternoon because of the rising level river. News of the loose barges added further urgency to the order.
But Wednesday evening, a posting on the town’s official Facebook page said: “Evacuate Webbers Falls immediately. The barges are loose and has the potential to hit the lock and dam 16. If the dam breaks, it will be catastrophic!! Leave now!!”
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8:30 p.m.
A tornado warning has been issued for the city of Joplin, Missouri, eight years to the day since a massive tornado devastated the city and killed 161 people.
The National Weather Service in Springfield, Missouri, said the warning continues until 8:45 p.m. CDT for the cities of Joplin, Webb City and Carl Junction.
The Joplin tornado on May 22, 2011, was one of the strongest and most destructive in U.S. history.
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8:20 p.m.
Tornadoes snaked across the countryside of northeastern Oklahoma, spreading concern but only scattered reports of damage and no injuries.
The National Weather Service listed 10 tornadoes reported Wednesday afternoon from areas of northeastern Oklahoma. Most were brief touchdowns.
The greater threat was flooding from rain-swollen rivers. In Tulsa, aerial video and videos showed the flooded Arkansas River encroaching on the River Spirit Casino Resort, forcing the resort to close.
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6:45 p.m.
Oklahoma City officials are warning residents near a small private lake in the northeastern part of the city to take precautions because the dam is in danger of failing.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, city officials said more rain is expected, further endangering the dam. If the dam fails, flash flooding could be unleashed downstream. Roads have been closed as a precaution.
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5:30 p.m.
Officials of a small Arkansas River town in eastern Oklahoma have appealed to its 600 residents to evacuate the town.
Residents of Webbers Falls have been ordered to seek safe ground as a major flood was expected on the river. An official posting on the town’s Facebook page called the situation “life-threatening.” It warned that those who disregarded the evacuation appeal would do so at their own risk and should mark their names and personal information on their arms in permanent ink.
Storms Tuesday were dumping heavy rain on ground and rivers already swollen from recent days of heavy rain.
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4:35 p.m.
A handful of residents in Missouri’s capital city and some businesses have been ordered to leave as the Missouri River rises.
Jefferson City issued a mandatory evacuation order Wednesday for residents and businesses on the north side of the river. The capitol building, state penitentiary and nearly all of the city’s homes are on the south side of the river.
Residents of several communities in Oklahoma and Kansas also have been urged to evacuate as rivers and streams rise.
Jefferson City police Lt. Dave Williams estimated that only about five to 10 homes are in the area that’s under a mandatory evacuation.
As a precaution, the Missouri National Guard also moved four helicopters out of the city’s airport, which also is on the north side of the river. And a Memorial Day weekend airshow was canceled.
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3:40 p.m.
Recent rains are creating new flooding risks along the Missouri River.
The Army Corps of Engineers says about 50 levees in Missouri could be overtopped by Saturday as high water levels move downstream. Most of the threatened area is farmland.
Recent storms in the central U.S. are also causing flooding woes in Kansas and Oklahoma.
The Missouri is expected to crest Thursday at 36.1 feet (11 meters) near the town of Glasgow, Missouri, overtopping agricultural levees and inundating some homes, highways and parkland. The National Weather Service has warned of moderate flooding in several other river towns.
The river has been flooding off and on since March, breaching dozens of levees and causing billions of dollars of damage to farmland, homes and businesses across the Midwest.
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2:50 p.m.
More Oklahoma residents are being encouraged to evacuate because of expected flooding that’s also prompted concerns in Missouri and Kansas.
Authorities on Wednesday encouraged people living along the Arkansas River in the Tulsa suburb of Bixby and low-lying areas near creeks both north and south of Okmulgee, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Tulsa. to leave their homes.
Residents in the Tulsa suburb of Sand Springs; Fort Gibson, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Tulsa; and Webbers Falls, some 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa, were advised earlier to evacuate because of flooding forecast on the Arkansas River.
Residents along the Cimarron River were evacuating as the riverbank eroded beneath their homes about 34 miles (55 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.
One unoccupied home rolled off the river bank and into the Cimarron River on Tuesday. Authorities say parts of others ae hanging over the riverbank and are threatened with collapsing.
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2:25 p.m.
Some residents along a rain-swollen Oklahoma river are evacuating after swift currents eroded the riverbank and undermined the soil beneath their homes.
Erosion along the Cimarron River has caused several homes to be threatened with collapsing into the river near Crescent, about 34 miles (55 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City.
Severe storms that have spawned tornadoes in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa, has also dropped up to 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain on parts of Oklahoma during the past week. That’s caused many rivers and streams to overflow their banks.
One unoccupied home rolled off the river bank and into the Cimarron River on Tuesday. Authorities say parts of others ae hanging over the riverbank and are threatened with collapsing.
Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
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12:30 p.m.
Residents of two more Oklahoma towns are being encouraged to leave their homes ahead of expected flooding that has also prompted flooding concerns in Missouri and Kansas.
Residents in the Tulsa suburb of Sand Springs and in Fort Gibson, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Tulsa are being urged to evacuate because of flooding forecast on the Arkansas River.
Residents of Webbers Falls, some 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa, were advised earlier to evacuate.
The National Weather Service reports the river was at 37 feet (11 meters) late Wednesday morning, 9 feet (2.74 meters) above flood stage and expected to reach 41 feet (12.5 meters) by Friday morning.
River levels were rising Wednesday, after days of severe weather that has been blamed on at least three deaths.
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11:55 a.m.
Severe storms that churned up tornadoes have prompted flooding concerns in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
River levels were rising Wednesday, after days of severe weather that has been blamed on at least three deaths.
The deluge inundated roadways, closing highways in 17 Kansas counties, along with more than 330 Missouri roads.
Amtrak also suspended train service Wednesday and Thursday along a route between St. Louis and Kansas City because of congestion and flood-related delays.
In Oklahoma, officials are urging residents of Webbers Falls to evacuate as the Arkansas River heads toward near-historic levels.
Forecasters say parts of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas could see more severe weather Wednesday night into Thursday.
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9:35 a.m.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt says more rain in the forecast is a big concern with parts of the state already flooded following severe weather that’s blamed for at least three deaths after also battering Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.
Stitt spoke at a news conference Wednesday in Tulsa following an aerial tour with Tulsa Mayor G.W. Bynum and other officials.
Forecasters say parts of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas could see more severe weather Wednesday, the latest in a multi-day stretch of storms that have spawned dozens of tornadoes.
The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma through the weekend. More than 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain has fallen since Sunday in parts of Oklahoma after an already rainy spring .
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9:05 a.m.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a woman apparently drowned after driving around a barricade into high water.
The unidentified woman’s body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office to confirm the cause of death. Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said she isn’t yet listed as what would be the state’s first storm-related death.
The OHP says the woman drove onto the water covered roadway near Perkins, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City and was swept off the highway.
A storm system that spawned numerous tornadoes since Sunday in Oklahoma has been followed by heavy rains that dumped more than 8 inches of rain in parts of the state.
The National Weather Service has issued flood and flash flood warnings for the northeastern corner of the state through the remainder of the week.
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8:40 a.m.
Authorities say one person has been killed and another injured by what may have been a tornado that damaged a farmstead in southwest Iowa’s Adair County.
The Adair County Sheriff’s Office says first responders found the body of 74-year-old Linda Brownlee early Wednesday morning at the farm just east-southeast of Adair. Seventy-eight-year-old Harold Brownlee was flown to a Des Moines hospital.
Robert Kempf, emergency management coordinator for Adair and Guthrie counties, says the Brownlee home sits atop a hill, so the extensive damage could have been caused by straight-line winds. The National Weather Service is sending an assessment team to determine whether a tornado was involved.
Kempf says three outbuildings were destroyed at the farm, and two nearby houses were damaged as well.
The weather service says debris from the farmstead landed on nearby Interstate 80.
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6:40 a.m.
A small town in Oklahoma is urging residents to evacuate as the Arkansas River heads toward near-historic levels.
Forecasters say major flooding is expected in Webbers Falls, a town of about 600 people about 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Oklahoma City.
According to the National Weather Service, the Arkansas River was at 34.5 feet (10.5 meters), or 6.5 feet (2 meters) above flood stage, as of Wednesday morning. The river was expected to rise to 40 feet (12 meters) by Thursday morning. The National Weather Service says the flooding poses an “extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation.”
Forecasters say parts of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas could see severe weather Wednesday, the latest in a multi-day stretch of storms that have spawned dozens of tornadoes and caused two deaths in Missouri.
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