Ferocious storms that battered Oklahoma and Missouri, killing 21 over the weekend, lurched eastward Monday, lashing New England and the mid-Atlantic region with harsh winds and heavy rainfall before moving out to sea.

Although the East Coast may be struck by another round of thunder Monday, forecasters at the National Weather Service said the severe storm threat has largely passed, bringing an end to several days of violent weather across a wide swath of the country.

At least 18 people — including six children and three storm chasers — were killed after five twisters attacked the Oklahoma City area Friday evening, terrorizing communities already bludgeoned by lethal storms this spring. Another three people died in Missouri.

Authorities were still searching Monday for five missing people – including three children – from areas around the Oklahoma River, according to Oklahoma City Fire Department Deputy Chief Marc Woodard.

Hospitals in Oklahoma City reported 115 injuries, officials at the Oklahoma State Department of Health said late Sunday, although that number may have increased Monday as officials began to reckon with the devastation wrought by Friday’s swarm of storms.

The twisters hammered the Oklahoma City area just 11 days after a monstrous tornado claimed 24 lives in the suburb of Moore, where power outages were reported Friday during the height of the twisters’ tear through town.

The three fatalities in Missouri were blamed on fierce flooding caused by the punishing hailstorms the wild weather system brought to large parts of the heartland.

"Authorities have confirmed three deaths from high water; those occurred in Lawrence, Miller and Reynolds counties," said a statement from Missouri governor Jay Nixon’s office.

The Weather Channel confirmed at least three tornadoes touched down around St. Louis, badly damaging homes but not causing any fatalities. 

Slideshow: Tornadoes hit central Oklahoma

KFOR-TV

Click to view scenes from Friday's violent storm.

Launch slideshow

Communities on the East Coast were hit with some wild weather conditions Sunday evening, including rough winds and torrential rainfall, but the storm threat had largely subsided by Monday.

“The risk of severe weather has pretty much disappeared on the East Coast,” Bruce Terry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told The Associated Press.

At the height of the Sunday evening assault on the East, over 40,000 homes and businesses were left without power in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, according to The Associated Press. But more than half of those structures had electricity restored by Monday.

Washington, D.C., was also pounded by showers and thunderstorms Sunday evening, but the skies above the nation’s capital were mostly clear Monday.

Finally, residents of Anderson County in upstate South Carolina reported possible tornado sightings Sunday, authorities said. At least one house was hit and had its roof torn up, but there were no reported injuries Monday morning, according to County Administrator Rusty Burns.

NBC News' M. Alex Johnson, Janet Shamlian, Aaron Marmelstein and Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

Related:

• Storm chaser caught in twister: It felt like I was going to heaven
• More Oklahoma twisters!? Latest outbreak fits Tornado Alley's pattern
• Midwest tornadoes like a giant game of Battleship

This story was originally published on Mon Jun 3, 2013 3:47 PM EDT

Violent storms that left at least 16 people dead in Oklahoma and Missouri were heading towards the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Sunday, as the nation’s mid-section struggled to cope with floodwaters.

At least 13 people –including nine adults, three of who were storm chasers, and four children — were killed after five tornadoes — one a half-mile wide — struck the Oklahoma City area Friday evening, terrorizing communities already battered by deadly storms this spring.

The Oklahoma City Fire Department on Sunday was also searching the Oklahoma River for four more missing people. 

Hospitals in Oklahoma City reported 115 injuries, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

One of the dead was named by the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office as James C. Talbert, 65, whose vehicle drove off a washed-out bridge in eastern Oklahoma County Saturday.

Three further deaths, in Missouri, were blamed on flooding caused by the torrential hailstorms that the weather system brought to large parts of the mid-US. 

"Authorities have confirmed three deaths from high water; those occurred in Lawrence, Miller and Reynolds counties," said a statement from Missouri governor Jay Nixon’s office.

The Weather Channel confirmed at least three tornadoes touched down around St. Louis, badly damaging homes but not causing any fatalities. 

Tens of thousands were without power, and only eight minor injuries were reported. Gov. Nixon declared a state of emergency. After touring the damage on Saturday, Nixon told The Weather Channel that "dozens of houses literally exploded" in Charles County, where an EF3 twister ripped through. 

Three "storm chasers" who had done work with The Weather Channel were killed in Friday's tornadoes. Father and son team Tim and Paul Samaras, as well as chase partner Carl Young, were killed as a result of a twister in El Reno, Okla.

"They went in the field focused on collecting data to enable meteorologists to further the science behind tornadoes which we know has and will help to save countless lives," The Weather Channel said in a statement. "Our community has suffered a terrible loss and our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones."

The twisters came just 11 days after a monster tornado left 24 dead in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where power outages were reported Friday.

"The last two nights, I've been having hell," Roy Stoddard, a truck driver from Depew, Okla., who was delayed by rising floodwaters at Little Rock, Ark. on Thursday told The Associated Press. On Friday evening, he had to take shelter in a store's walk-in cooler during Friday evening's rush-hour in Oklahoma City as deadly weather approached.

"I know what a tornado can do," Stoddard added.

The weather system had started lurching eastward Sunday, bringing scattered thunderstorms, some severe, to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the Weather Channel’s Michael Palmer said.

“Large hail and damaging winds are the main threat with an isolated tornado possible.  Lingering warm and humid air ahead of the cold front will produce isolated severe storms in the Carolinas on Monday.”

Washington, D.C., was being hammered by showers and thunderstorms Sunday evening, which could go on until Monday morning, according to NBC Washington.

In Anderson County in upstate South Carolina citizens told authorities of possibly tornado sightings, according to County Administrator Rusty Burns. Burns said at least one hit was struck and had its roof torn up, but there were no reported injuries Sunday evening.

"Everything is under control now," Burns said.

There is also yet more bad news for the Plains: The chance of yet more severe storms returns Monday, Palmer said.

M. Alex Johnson, Janet Shamlian and Aaron Marmelstein of NBC News, and Mike Bettes of The Weather Channel, contributed to this report.

Related:

• Storm chaser caught in twister: It felt like I was going to heaven
• More Oklahoma twisters!? Latest outbreak fits Tornado Alley's pattern
• Midwest tornadoes like a giant game of Battleship

Slideshow: Tornadoes hit central Oklahoma

KFOR-TV

Click to view scenes from Friday's violent storm.

Launch slideshow

The death toll has jumped to 12 in the aftermath of a swarm of destructive twisters that tore through the Midwest, killing seven adults and two children in Oklahoma and causing three deaths in Missouri blamed on flooding.

Floodwaters also proved deadly in Oklahoma, where a 4-year-old girl died after she was swept away while taking shelter with her family in a ditch, according to police.

It is unclear whether the girl is one of the nine people who died as five tornadoes — one a half-mile wide — struck the Oklahoma City area Friday evening, terrorizing communities already battered by deadly storms this spring.

The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told NBC News seven adults and two children are confirmed dead, including a mother and her small child. 

The medical examiner said that five of the nine dead had been positively identified and called on the public's help to identify the others. "If someone is missing a loved one from last night’s tornado, we would encourage them to contact our office at 405-239-7141," said Amy Elliott, of the medical examiner's office.

Hospitals in Oklahoma City reported 104 injuries, including five critical patients.

At least five people killed were in vehicles and may have been trying to flee as dark clouds gathered and warning sirens wailed, authorities said. 

Marcus Jolly, 32, of El Reno told The Oklahoman newspaper the scene along Interstate 40 "was a war zone. There were semis turned over and skeletons of buildings remaining.”

The twisters came just 11 days after a monster tornado left 24 dead in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where power outages were reported Friday.

Mark Wiley, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s southern region headquarters in Fort Worth, said early Saturday that there had been five confirmed tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area on Friday and one in the Tulsa area early Saturday.

A total of 12 tornadoes hit Missouri and Illinois around St. Louis, where “numerous homes” were damaged. Wiley did not have any information about casualties there. Two twisters touched down briefly in North Dakota, but did not do any damage.

The Oklahoma City area “definitely” experienced the worst of the bad weather, Wiley said, with wind gusts of up to 90 mph, baseball-sized hail and extensive flooding.

“We have several reports of water going into homes and dozens of people having to be rescued on the streets, especially along Interstate 40,” Wiley said. “It was not a good night to be in the Oklahoma City area.”

For Saturday, Wiley said the storm was moving toward Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and East Texas, but did not “look as severe as yesterday.”

The worry now turns to flash flooding. Wiley said about 6 to 8 inches of rain had fallen in 12 hours between 7 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. CT Saturday. The Weather Channel reported that May 2013 is the wettest May on record in Oklahoma City.

Friday, the terror came from tornadoes boasting baseball-sized hail and winds so strong they tossed tractor-trailers off the interstate. Meteorologists said the storm's fury didn't match that of the tornado that struck Moore on May 20 but dumped around 8 inches of rain on the area.

An SUV used by Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes and a crew of storm trackers was thrown 200 yards by one tornado near Oklahoma City suburb El Reno. The vehicle tumbled about eight times and came to rest in a field, Bettes said. Some members of the crew suffered minor injuries, and the vehicle was destroyed.

"That was the scariest moment of my life," Bettes said. "I saw my life flash before my eyes."

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said the woman and baby were killed when the SUV they were in overturned on Interstate 40 between El Reno and Yukon.

Many of the injured were hurt in accidents along Interstates 35 and 40 west of the city, where at least three semi-trailer rigs were overturned after the biggest tornado touched down near El Reno, authorities said.

Bart Kuester, 50, a truck driver from Wisconsin, said he was driving along Interstate 35 past Moore when he realized a dangerous storm was approaching. 

"I heard the sirens going off and I could see it coming," he told The Associated Press. Kuester said the interstate was flooded and jammed with people trying to outrun the storm. 

"Everyone was leaving. ... Just because that one that hit Moore was so fresh in their memory," he said.

Authorities said some of the worst damage on Friday was from flooding around El Reno and Yukon and the danger continued into Saturday.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for parts of Oklahoma early Saturday.

There were also flash flood warnings in place for parts of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas and  Kansas.

On Friday, one tornado turned south from Oklahoma City and then toward the suburb of Moore, which was hit by a devastating twister on May 20 that killed 24 people and injured hundreds of others.

“I think we are still a little shaken by what happened in Moore. We are still burying children and victims, so our emotions are still strong," Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told Reuters.

Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency.

"This has been a very large storm that hit a lot of communities," she told KFOR. She said she had heard from at least 30 fellow governors offering assistance.

At Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, where winds hit 71 mph, all flights were canceled and about 1,000 travelers were herded underground, where they were told to put their hands on their heads. The airport reopened Saturday morning, but all morning departures were canceled.

Tornado warnings — meaning a funnel cloud that could become a tornado had been spotted in the area — were in effect much of the day for numerous counties in Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Forecasters sounded the alarm that much of the Midwest — already pummeled by a week of tornadoes and flooded with drenching rains — was facing another round of violent weather overnight and into the weekend.

Observers at Tinker Air Force Base reported a tornado on the ground near the base southwest of Oklahoma City. In Norman, home to the University of Oklahoma, a tornado touched down near Norman North High School and Norman Regional Hospital.

Buildings at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport were damaged by tornadoes with debris strewn across the runway. The airport was closed because of the damage, but re-opened just before midnight, the airport said in a statement.

Another tornado touched down Friday night 7 miles northeast of Moscow Mills, Mo., about 50 miles northwest of St. Louis. In St. Charles County, 24 houses were severely damaged or destroyed, said Mike O'Connell, communications director for the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

The National Weather Service evacuated its St. Louis office as tornado warnings were issued for north and northeastern St. Louis and surrounding counties.

Janet Shamlian and Aaron Marmelstein of NBC News, Mike Bettes of The Weather Channel, and Reuters contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Related:

• More Oklahoma twisters!? Latest outbreak fits Tornado Alley's pattern
• Midwest tornadoes like a giant game of Battleship

Two freight trains collided and derailed early Saturday in southeast Missouri, then triggered the collapse of a highway overpass when several rail cars struck a support pillar.

Seven people were injured, including two personnel on the trains and five individuals in cars on the overpass on Highway M near Scott City, about 120 miles south of St. Louis, NBC affiliate KSDK reported. All the injured were treated for minor injuries and released.

The collision occurred before dawn at a rail intersection. 

"One train T-boned the other one and caused it to derail, and the derailed train hit a pillar which caused the overpass to collapse," Scott County Sheriff's dispatcher Clay Slipis told Reuters.

The crash, which involved BNSF Railway Co and Union Pacific trains, also ignited a fire when diesel fuel leaked from one of the train engines, Slipis said.

The crash came just over a week after a commuter train derailed in Connecticut, striking another train and injuring more than 70 people during the evening rush hour.

On Friday, a truck crash caused the collapse of a bridge in Washington state, sending two cars plunging into the Skagit River. Three people were rescued.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it had dispatched a team to investigate the train crash. 

Union Pacific said its train had been primarily carrying auto parts from Illinois to Texas. The Union Pacific locomotive and about a dozen cars derailed in the crash.

BNSF said that its train had been hauling scrap metal from salvage facilities and was heading south along the Missouri River. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sat May 25, 2013 11:05 AM EDT

Flood-weary residents in parts of the Midwest were still trying to stem the tide of murky river water Friday, as late snow-melt combined with days of spring rain sent rivers toward high-water records.

Floodwaters had begun an inch-by-inch retreat in inundated Peoria, Ill., after the Illinois River crested Tuesday at 29.35 feet, eclipsing a 70-year record. In central Indiana, more heavy rain through Wednesday morning prompted a request for voluntary evacuation along the Tippecanoe River near Lafayette.

The Grand River at Grand Rapids, Mich., which reached record levels, began to fall below flood stage Thursday and some of the hundreds of people evacuated were starting to return home.

Along the Mississippi, the biggest concern was that the flood is expected to linger into May, potentially straining longstanding earthen levees and hastily-built sandbag walls. No towns were in imminent danger.

Rain-soaked Chicago had its wettest April on record, the National Weather Service said, according to NBCChicago.com.

In tiny Dutchtown, Missouri, flooding from the Mississippi has become such a fact of life that residents expressed hope that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would buy them out of their homes.

Reuters

Local residents work with soldiers of the 1140th Engineer Battalion to build a sandbag wall near Dutchtown, Missouri, on Wednesday.

Thousands of sandbags were at the ready in anticipation of a crest Thursday.

Doyle Parmer, who doubles as town clerk and emergency management chief, told The Associated Press that residents had been "jumping through hoops" for three years seeking a buyout from FEMA as part of a federal program that sees flood-prone areas set aside for green space or a park. The AP said:

In order for that money to arrive, towns must prove that flooding is frequent and devastating enough for a buyout to be cost-effective, and Dutchtown hasn't filed a suitable one yet, said Melissa Janssen, mitigation branch chief for the FEMA region that includes Missouri.

Parmer said he and other residents were ready to get out.

"Sell the house, cut the grass and get the hell out of Dodge," he said.

For 40 years, Shirley Moss has lived in the same home in the town, but as the sandbags piled up yet again, she didn't hesitate when asked if she would take a government buyout.

"In a New York minute," Moss said from her double-wide mobile home. "I'm 75 years old — I can't fight this."

Meanwhile, in North Dakota residents got their first touch of good news on Wednesday when officials said the swollen Red River would crest at lower than anticipated levels next week, the AP reported.

Residents in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, have been filling sandbags ahead of the expected fourth major Red River flood in the past five years after unseasonably cold weather delayed the annual thaw.

But the river was still expected to peak at possibly its second-highest level on record, and flood preparations in the north-central United States follow major flooding on rivers in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan caused by heavy rain, the AP said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 25, 2013 5:39 AM EDT

Heavy river flooding in six Midwestern states that forced evacuations, shut down bridges, swamped homes and caused at least three deaths was at or near crest in some areas Sunday evening.

Rivers surged from the Quad Cities to St. Louis on Sunday. Hours earlier, National Guardsmen, volunteers, homeowners and jail inmates pitched in with sandbagging to hold back floodwaters that closed roads in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

Forecasters warned that "more rain was expected in the affected areas Tuesday into Wednesday," according to weather.com.

Record flooding swelled in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a crest of over 22 feet expected late Sunday into Monday. The water is expected to peak sometime Monday. 

The basements of some homes in the town of Comstock Park, Mich., were already full of water even before the surge Sunday morning, and the new swell forced some residents to leave their houses by boat.

“I’m surrounded by water all the way around my house,” resident Gary Smith told Grand Rapids NBC station WOOD-TV. “When I step out, I have a porch and then I have one step that’s still visible, and then I step down into at least three feet of water, four feet of water.”

Significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill., later this week, The Associated Press reported. 

The Chicago area, which was hit by widespread flooding over the weekend, was dry for much of the period. But more rain may be on the way on Tuesday and Wednesday as a developing cold front could bring as much as an inch of precipitation to the region, forecasters said.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn declared a state of emergency as record flooding occurred at a dozen river gauges across the state over the weekend.

All hands pitched in as the hard-hit town of Clarksville, Mo., worked to keep back the waters of the Mississippi River from the historic downtown area.

The river was at 34.7 feet on Sunday afternoon, over 10 feet above the 25-foot flood stage – and was expected to rise another foot before cresting Monday, according to the AP.

Jeff Roberson / AP

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, right, walks away from floodwaters after meeting with members of the Missouri National Guard as they make flood preparations Saturday in Clarksville, Mo.

“This is frustrating for people,” Trish Connelly, 57, told the Associated Press. “This isn’t as bad as 2008, but thank God it stopped raining.”

Hundreds were evacuated from towns in Indiana as the Wabash River rose by 14 feet on Saturday. Authorities in the town of Montezuma, Ind. called in volunteer firefighters to help fill sandbags as waters looked to crest at twice the normal flood stage.

“Right now we are just trying to help people,” town council President Allen Cobb told WTWO. “We’re just trying to keep people calm at this point, let them know the facts as we know them and put down some of the rumors they’re hearing.”

Indiana resident Robert Morgan, 64, of Arcadia, died Friday night after his car was caught by floodwaters and swept 100 yards downstream in Hamilton County, according to a statement from the local sheriff’s office.

The body of another driver and Arcadia resident, 42-year-old David A. Baker, was recovered on Sunday, according to the sheriff’s office. Police responded after receiving a distress call from Baker’s cell phone in the early hours of Saturday, and later recovered his vehicle and dog. Baker’s body was recovered on Sunday morning.

A third confirmed flood-related death occurred in Missouri, according to weather.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:47 AM EDT

 A vast storm system that spawned tornadoes and killed three people marched toward the East Coast on Friday, delivering spring snow and ice to New England and promising to drench some of the country’s most populous cities.

On Thursday, storms tore through the Great Plains, Midwest and South. Tornadoes were reported in Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi, and tens of thousands of people were left without power.

Storms blew the steeple off a church and killed someone in Mississippi, and a utility worker was electrocuted repairing damage in Missouri. Earlier in the week, a Nebraska woman died trying to trudge through a vicious snowstorm from her car to her home.

In Shuqualak, Miss., Kathy Coleman said she was outside her home Thursday, signing for a delivery of dialysis medication, when the storm hit. The deliveryman rushed her into the house, and the two of them huddled with the housekeeper in the bathroom.

“All I could hear was trees breaking and falling and glass,” she said. “He started praying and I started praying. Thank God he was here.”

Rogelio V. Solis / AP

Residents begin cleanup of debris from homes hit by a tornado in Shuqualak, Miss.

More coverage from The Weather Channel

Umbrellas bloomed at the Masters golf tournament in Georgia, and elsewhere in the state roofs were ripped off buildings and wrapped around trees like pieces of paper, one witness said.

In Rome, Ga., a wooden beam shot through a house 3 feet from where Tim Crouch was standing.

“I’m lucky,” he said. “I’m sure there are some folks out there who can’t go back to their home.”

On Friday, the system still had remarkable reach — bending from the Canadian border in snowy North Dakota through the Great Lakes and punishing the East Coast with storms all the way to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Bob Gathany / al.com via AP

Lightning strikes downtown Huntsville, Ala., as strong storms moved into Madison County Thursday.

Tornado watches were in effect in eastern Virginia and North Carolina. Parts of New Hampshire were expected to get 3 to 5 inches of snow, according to meteorologists for The Weather Channel. New York City, Boston and Washington were expecting heavy rain.

The storm was also having some positive effects, bringing much-needed rain to drought-stricken farmland in the Midwest.

Heavy rain on Friday morning even helped extinguish a wildfire that burned across 3,400 acres on the west side of the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., according to a Marine Corps press release. 

Forecasters said a similar storm pattern was taking shape for next week, probably Tuesday through Thursday, packing both snow and severe thunderstorms as it plows east.

The Rockies, parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest could get snow again, The Weather Channel said, and severe storms could rip through the southern Plains and the Mississippi Valley.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:38 AM EDT

A destructive and massive storm system draped itself across half the country Thursday, from the Gulf Coast to Canada and with a wingspan from Maine to the Dakotas. At least one person was killed in Mississippi, where a tornado touched down.

Authorities in Kemper County, Miss., along the Alabama state line, reported that the storm also caused several injuries and extensive damage and destroyed at least one steel building.

Gov. Phil Bryant offered thoughts and prayers for people in the path of the storm and said that the state was sending help.

By early afternoon, the tornado was moving toward Alabama, and the more heavily populated cities of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa were in the path of the worst of the storm system.

David Carson / Post-Dispatch via AP

A tree fell on this home in Hazelwood, Mo., during heavy storms Wednesday. There were two reports of tornadoes in the town, according to Weather.com, and the governor declared a state of emergency.

The system, which has disrupted weather all over the country this week, formed a giant T on Thursday. Snow fell in the Dakotas and upstate New York, and ice-slicked roads in Wisconsin. Rain drenched the Ohio Valley and New Orleans.

On Wednesday, the storm system whipped up tornadoes and severe thunderstorms across Missouri and Arkansas, wrecking homes, downing power lines and injuring people in both states.

The St. Louis suburbs were walloped, and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency. The town of Hazelwood reported two tornadoes, and a tree fell on a house there.

While authorities in Arkansas could not confirm a tornado, but three homes were destroyed and more than 50 damaged along with a church. People were trapped inside a house in Lincoln when a tree fell on it.

David Carson / Post-Dispatch via AP

Kristin Little, manager of the Ferguson Optical shop in Hazelwood, Mo., talks with a friend on the phone as she describes the damage caused by a storm, possibly a tornado, on Wednesday.

Van Buren County, in north central Arkansas, was hit hard. More than 30 homes were damaged, six were destroyed, and a fire department was heavily damaged, according to county judge Roger Hooper. Four people were hurt.

The storm made a plaything of an 18-wheeler in Botkinburg, Ark., tossing the truck and damaging a house.

Other parts of the country were hit with a mix of snow and ice, and Gov. Mark Dayton called out the National Guard to help ice-bound Minnesotans. Freezing rain and ice yanked down power lines and tree limbs in Minnesota.

NBC News' Christopher Nelson contributed to this report.

Related:

PhotoBlog: Trees toppled, homes destroyed by powerful storms

Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:24 AM EDT

Authorities pulled a body Wednesday from the wreckage of a landmark restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., where a natural gas explosion caused a spectacular fire.

At least 14 people were injured Tuesday night when a blaze tore through JJ’s Restaurant, part of an upscale business and shopping district. Searchers with cadaver dogs had sifted through the rubble for hours overnight looking for the lone person missing, a woman who worked at the restaurant.

The cause of the gas explosion remained under investigation. A statement released by Missouri Gas Energy said early indications were that a contractor doing underground work struck a natural gas line.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the 6 p.m. blast at JJ’s Restaurant in Country Club Plaza, an upscale business and shopping district of Kansas City. Flames shot up through the night sky, destroying the renowned Midwest dining spot as firefighters worked in below-freezing temperatures. The fire was largely under control a couple of hours later.

“JJ’s Restaurant is totally gone,” Kansas City Fire Department Chief Paul Berardi said. 

David Frantzè, the restaurant owner's brother, said the loss of the beloved eatery is a major blow to the city.

"My brother just spent 27 years of his life running this business. He's built it into one of the fine restaurants in Kansas City," Frantzè said. "To come down here and to see a hole in the ground in flames is a pretty staggering experience."

Nearby residences and apartments suffered damage after the explosion and blaze, authorities said, including a building adjacent to the restaurant with a collapsed wall.

NBC News

Crews work near the smoldering remains at the scene of an explosion in Kansas City, Mo., on Feb. 20.

“There will be scattered damage throughout the immediate vicinity of the incident,” James said.

It was at first thought that two people might be missing in the blaze, but authorities said that one of those people was located at St. Luke’s Hospital around midnight. 

With a major winter storm approaching, rescuers moved in heavy construction equipment on Wednesday to lift fallen debris, which was three to four feet thick over the floor of the destroyed eatery, Berardi said.

Witnesses told NBC station KSHB that they smelled natural gas in the area of the restaurant at least an hour before the explosion. 

“KCFD are on the scene and will conduct a thorough investigation of what caused the explosion,” Berardi said. “We will continue to bring out the dogs and clear that scene and then an investigation will occur.”

JJ’s has been in business since 1985, and was widely regarded as a premier city dining location, earning a 93 rating from Zagat’s. The restaurant’s wine cellar had been listed by The Wine Spectator as among the finest in the world.

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:40 AM EST