FYI
High winds, hail slam Midwest
Wind gusts up to 80 mph
Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Posted: 4:15 PM EDT (2015 GMT)
(AP) -- Thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity Wednesday in the path of a long line of thunderstorms that stretched from Tennessee to the Great Lakes.
Wind gusted to 80 mph in Kentucky and Tennessee on Tuesday, and hail stones as big as softballs were reported in parts of Illinois, the National Weather Service said.
As the storms passed through central Illinois, a tornado leveled a manufacturing plant Tuesday at Roanoke and roofs were blown off several houses, officials said.
Workers at Parsons Manufacturing plant in Roanoke, about 20 miles east of Peoria, went to storm shelters before the twister struck.
"The sound was so intense you had to hold your ears shut," office worker Dave McClallen said.
Utilities around Kentucky reported about 254,000 homes and businesses lost power during the storms, including 115,000 in the Louisville metropolitan area, the most there since a 1974 tornado.
Traffic lights remained out Wednesday in much of Louisville. Chip Keeling, a spokesman for Louisville Gas & Electric, said power had been restored to about 40,000 customers by Wednesday morning but some might remain in the dark for an extended period.
About 60,000 customers were blacked out in central Tennessee, but service had been restored to about half of them by dawn Wednesday, Nashville Electric Service reported.
Some 51,000 customers were still without power Wednesday morning in Indiana, down from a high of up to 136,000 during the storms, said Cinergy-PSI spokeswoman Angeline Protogere. Some might have to wait until Thursday for the lights to go on again, she said.
One man was killed in Indiana when a tractor tipped over on him while he cleaned up storm debris, officials said.
Utilities said at least 10,000 customers lost power in Michigan.
Funnel clouds were spotted in Wisconsin near Manitowoc and Clarks Mills. One touched down near Clarks Mills, damaging farm homes and other rural buildings, said Manitowoc County Sheriff's Sgt. Andrew Colborn.
FYI
Heavy Rain Causes Flooding Along East Coast; More Than 500 Evacuated in New Jersey
By Jeff Linkous Associated Press Writer
Published: Jul 13, 2004
MEDFORD, N.J. (AP) - More than a foot of rain burst dams, flooded roads and sent torrents of water into houses and businesses in the Northeast, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes in the early morning hours Tuesday.
More than 750 people in New Jersey left their homes and cars at the height of the flooding early Tuesday, as a dozen dams and at least three bridges were washed under. Lawmakers urged President Bush to declare parts of south-central New Jersey a disaster area, and Gov. James E. McGreevey declared a state of emergency in two counties.
No injuries were reported in the stricken areas, which extended into Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland. ........