John Wark / AP

Burnt trees and destroyed homes are left in the wake of a wildfire in the densely wooded Black Forest area northeast of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday.

Thousands of Colorado Springs residents remained poised for mandatory evacuation orders Friday as crews fought to prevent the most destructive wildfire in Colorado’s history from spreading inside the city limits.

Two people have died in the 15,700-acre Black Forest fire – one of three major blazes burning in the state – and 38,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

It had reduced 378 homes to cinders by 10 p.m. local time Thursday (midnight ET Friday), according to the El Paso County Sheriff's office. It also covered more than 24 square miles. 

Hot, variable winds were hampering efforts to fight the fires.

As of late Thursday, flames from the Black Forest fire had not damaged properties within the Colorado Springs city limits but the sheriff’s office issued a mandatory evacuation order for about 1,000 homes inside the north-eastern boundary and a voluntary order for about 2,000 more, Reuters reported.

Thursday’s two victims were found in the garage of a home in a heavily wooded area, El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said, adding that their car doors "were open as if they were loading."

Full coverage from NBC station KUSA

"All evidence from the scene is they were planning on departing," he said. Two other people who had been reported missing were later found safe.

The incident brought back memories of last year's Waldo Canyon fire, which swept through the area and was the most destructive in the state's history to that point, destroying 346 homes and forcing more than 35,000 people to evacuate.

"I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined we'd be dealing a year later with a very similar circumstance," Maketa said.

For the Gardner family of Colorado Springs – the state’s second-biggest city, with 400,000 residents  - it's the second year in a row they've lost their home.

"Here we go again," Terrie Gardner, who lost her home in the Waldo Canyon fire last year, told NBC station KUSA.

Gardner and her husband, John, were living with her parents, Bryan and Bonnie Lord, after they lost everything last year. Now the Black Forest fire has destroyed that home, too. 

The Lords had lived there for 28 years. All that's left are two cats, a dog, a laptop and a couple of checkbooks. Everything else in the home — family photos, important paperwork, all of the new appliances the Gardners had bought for their prospective new home — is gone.

Terri Gardner said the situation was "kind of overwhelming at first. We've practiced this once before."

But "you can't change it," Bonnie Lord told the station. "It's happened. What's gone is gone."

"Decisions to evacuate are difficult, and those of you who had to evacuate, we know it's very difficult for you," Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach said.

Police Chief Peter Carey said he was in discussions with the National Guard to provide security in the evacuated areas.

More than 700 firefighters were at work on the fire, reinforced by active-duty military and National Guard troops, said Rich Harvey, a federal incident commander.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed three disaster emergencies Thursday authorizing a combined $10.15 million to help pay for firefighting and other costs.

Slideshow: Western wildfires

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Drought conditions fuel blazes in the U.S.

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In the area of the Royal Gorge fire, about 15 miles from Cañon City, 48 of the 52 nearby structures were destroyed, authorities said Thursday afternoon. The fire had charred about 3,150 acres and was 20 percent contained. 

The fire is burning on both sides of the Royal Gorge Bridge, which stretches more than 950 feet above the Arkansas River and is surrounded by theme park attractions. The bridge itself was still intact, officials said at a news conference.

That blaze also forced the evacuation of almost 900 prisoners from the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility outside Cañon City to a vacant prison in another part of the city Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Big Meadows fire that broke out Monday afternoon on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park was at 333 acres by late Thursday, KUSA reported. However, no structures or communities are threatened.

NBC News' Miguel Almaguer, Alastair Jamieson and Christopher Nelson and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related: 

• Colorado wildfires char homes, thousands of acres, force prison evacuation

This story was originally published on Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:39 AM EDT

David Duprey / AP

A tow truck operator attaches a cable to a car that crashed into a flooded ditch during heavy rain along the New York State Thruway in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday, June 13. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of upstate New York, saying the region was in for two days of rain starting Thursday.

A tornado in Maryland as well as lightning, hail and heavy rain delayed flights and snarled work commutes along the East Coast on Thursday, caused by a massive storm system that tormented the Midwest a day earlier.

The storm turned deadly in Virginia, where a large, mature tree uprooted by the storm fell on a school-age child, killing him, police said. A man was also injured in the incident that took place at Maymont Park in Richmond, but his injuries are not life-threatening.

Flood warnings were in issued for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington, while severe thunderstorm warnings were also issued in the South and Southeast.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado near the Washington suburb of Laurel, Md., just after 4 p.m. ET Thursday, and said the twister was moving east at 50 mph. A tornado threat had been issued earlier in the day, extending all the way from southern New Jersey and southern Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast, said Weather Channel forecaster Greg Forbes. The threat was highest from north and east Virginia to east Pennsylvania and central New Jersey. 

In Maryland and Virginia, tornado watches expired at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Roughly 62 million Americans were in the path of severe weather, MSNBC Meteorologist Bill Karins said. Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Va., and Philadelphia were expected to get the worst of it. 

An initial batch of storms passed through the nation's capital Thursday morning, with more severe weather hitting the area in the evening, NBCWashington.com reported. Downed wires and trees were reported in nearby Frederick County, Md.; Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Ronald Reagan National Airport ordered groundstops Thursday morning.

The storms delayed hundreds of people on planes and trains and created massive backups on area roadways. More than 360 flights were canceled at O'Hare International Airport. For a time, all inbound flights to O'Hare were kept at their origin. Midway International, to the south, saw another 50 cancellations.

Weather Service ground crews surveying damage on Thursday made preliminary confirmation of a derecho -- straight-line windstorms whose gusts can reach hurricane force -- happening Wednesday night into early Thursday morning in northern Indiana and northwest Ohio, The Weather Channel reported.

Winds during the likely derecho event, which completely destroyed a grain silo and two barns in the Wabash, Ind., area, were estimated at 90-100 mph in a swath 7 miles long and 3 miles wide.

The storm's broad path along the Eastern United States knocked out electricity for up to 200,000 people across several states. In Georgia alone, more than 162,000 customers were without power, officials said. 

At least 55,000 customers were without power in Illinois and northwest Indiana after the storm system pushed through the Upper Midwest Wednesday, bringing suspected tornadoes to Chicago and Ohio. The Weather Service confirmed Thursday that the tornado that hit the Savanna area of Illinois, knocking a house off its foundation and damaging several smaller buildings, was an EF-2 storm with maximum winds of 135 mph.

New York and surrounding suburbs, already saturated with up to 7 inches of rain from the downpours Friday and Monday, primarily faced the threat of more flooding, NBCNewYork reported.

A powerful supercell system pushed through metropolitan Cleveland in the early hours of Thursday, which forecasters earlier predicted would bring baseball-sized hailstones and more high winds.

It was the end of what Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel had earlier warned was going to be a "long and ugly night" for Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Indianapolis and the rest of the Midwest.

Scott Eisen / AP

Lightning flashes over Chicago's skyline on Wednesday.

Kevin Gold / NOAA, file

This photo taken in LaPorte, Indiana, on June 29, 2012, shows a shelf cloud on the leading edge of a derecho.

The Weather Channel reported "buildings destroyed" in Auglaize County as powerful winds blew through Ohio's northern Miami Valley early Thursday, though no details were immediately available. In the same county, a semi truck was toppled by high winds, NBC station WDTN TV in Dayton reported.

In Lake Delton, Wis., a "very, very strong downpour of rain" caused the roof over a loading dock to collapse at a Wal-Mart store late Wednesday afternoon, police said.

Police Sgt. William Hitchcock told NBC station WTMJ of Milwaukee that no serious injuries were reported, but the store is likely to be closed through Thursday.

NBC News' Jeff Black, Catherine Cetta, Justin Kirschner, Elizabeth Chuck and Sophia Rosenbaum contributed to this report.

Related:

• Wild weather over Washington as clouds converge on capitol
• PhotoBlog: Lightning strikes Chicago's Willis Tower
• Full coverage from weather.com

This story was originally published on Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:29 PM EDT

Two women and a 3-year-old girl were rescued from an SUV Wednesday night, after the vehicle was swept off the road by rising floodwaters into a ditch in Worth County, Iowa, the sheriff's office said.

Video cameras captured the rescue, which Kare11.com revealed took 45 minutes. Worth County Sheriff's Lt. Daniel Shaffer said the rescue was a joint effort of “several different fire departments.”

The video shows rescuers using a zip-line-type maneuver to safely transport the child from the SUV, through the choppy waters and onto dry land.

"Torrential downpour with very heavy rains, poor visibility, poor surface conditions," Shaffer described the conditions after the rescue.

Worth County is under a flood warning until 8:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, according to weather.com. “Do not drive your vehicle into areas where the water covers the roadway,” the site warns, “turn around … don’t drown.”

The three victims were examined at the scene and found to be in good health, Kare11.com said.

Rick Wilking / Reuters, file

Police stand beside two suspected looters in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 21.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Officials in tornado-stricken Oklahoma cities are now dealing with looters who are stealing items ranging from copper wire to jewelry.

Moore police spokesman Jeremy Lewis and Mayor Glenn Lewis said 17 arrests have been made on misdemeanor charges of looting in Moore since the May 20 EF5 tornado hit.

"We are seeing people take everything from copper to pipes to scrap metal to all kinds of electronics," Lewis said. "It's a misdemeanor crime and not a crime we usually have to deal with."

Jon Fisher's home was flattened in the May 20 storm that killed 24 people and his neighborhood has been among those targeted by looters, mostly homes on the edge of damaged areas.

"The houses are still standing and looters are kicking in doors and taking TVs and appliances," Fisher said. "They arrested two guys in my neighborhood the night of the tornado who were carrying out a love seat and couch."

Fisher said his insurance company told him to remove all valuables from his house as fast as possible, particularly items with sentimental value or those not easily replaced.

Moore police also dealt with looters after another massive EF5 tornado struck the city in 1999.

In May, police immediately set up positions and checked identification of people trying to enter locked-down tornado-damaged areas. The Oklahoma Insurance Commission also issued badges to assessors and workers to make them easily identified when working in damaged neighborhoods.

Three Virginia men - Steven Corky Daniels, 36; Steve Costello, 44 and Justin Wagner, 25 - were among those arrested for looting copper wire and scrap metal in Moore.

Maria Lopez, 30, of Norman, Oklahoma, was charged with disturbing a disaster area on May 30 in Moore after neighbors reported seeing her and her children sort through rubble.

Alleged looters closer to home were also arrested. Moore Police arrested Moore resident Edward Dean McDonald on May 29 on misdemeanor looting charges.

Shawnee police said they have made no looting arrests since a tornado struck that town on May 19.

Moore City Manager Steve Eddy said crime is not as widespread as some may think.

"We learned from the first tornado, and we have officers in that area 24/7," Eddy said. "We have no tolerance for it. We're not going to shoot them on sight or anything, but we will arrest anyone suspected of it."

On May 31, a second EF5 tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma, and severe storms left 21 people dead.

Slideshow: Tornadoes ravage Plains

Tom Pennington / Getty Images

A monster tornado hit Moore, Okla., leaving at least 24 dead.

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Scott Pribble / AP

This photo provided by the Arvada (Colo.) Fire Department shows a hot air balloon that crashed on Saturday in Arvada, Colo. Several hot air balloons made crash landings after a morning of strong winds.

DENVER -- Gusty winds forced the crash landings of four hot air balloons in separate mishaps on Saturday northwest of Denver, leaving at least 10 people hurt, but none of the injuries was life-threatening, authorities said.

All of the aborted flights occurred in wide-open areas frequented by balloon enthusiasts, according to Dana Lewis, a spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Fire Protection District.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina said sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles an hour, with gusts of up to 35 mph, were reported in the area at the time of the crash landings.

Lewis said one balloon carrying 10 passengers and a pilot went down inside the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, injuring five people, one of whom suffered "a fairly significant ankle injury."

In Boulder County, a balloon with a pilot and 11 passengers "impacted the ground hard" inside a wildlife conservation area, said local sheriff's spokesman Deputy Mitch Rosebrough.

"The weather conditions were calm and warm early this morning, but changed to gusty winds at the time of the crash," Rosebrough said. Two passengers were transported to a local hospital with neck and back injuries, he said.

In neighboring Arvada, the pilot of a balloon was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and two passengers were treated at the scene after the aircraft crash landed, said Scott Pribble, spokesman for the Arvada Fire Protection District.

A fourth balloon went down in nearby Louisville, Colorado, but there were no reports of injuries.

Separately, a small airplane crashed on Saturday in a remote corner of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, about 230 miles southwest of Denver, killing one person aboard the aircraft and injuring two others, a park spokeswoman said.

Severe weather - and a risk of tornadoes - was expected in parts of the Plains and Midwest over the weekend, as post-tropical storm Andrea continued to cause flooding along much of the East Coast Saturday.

Michael Palmer, of weather.com, said Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska, were among the cities expected to see strong storms on Saturday.

St. Louis was at risk of severe storms on Sunday, he added.

“A few storms are likely going to be severe, especially in Nebraska and Kansas on Saturday. The main threat will be large hail and damaging winds, but isolated tornadoes are possible,” he said.

More from weather.com

Meanwhile, Andrea was bringing near gale-force winds, a risk of coastal flooding and heavy rain to the East Coast on Saturday.

The National Weather Service warned that the rain would be the storm’s “the main impact.”

“Some creeks and small rivers may rise out of their banks in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Numerous flood warnings are in effect,” it said.

A notice issued by the weather service at 5 a.m. ET said coastal flooding was possible due to a storm surge in some areas from Long Island to New England.

“Post-tropical Andrea is expected to produce additional rainfall [of] up to 1 inch over parts of coastal New England. This will bring isolated storm total amounts to near 5 inches over parts of southern New England,” it said.

The heavy rain from the storm's outer bands was blamed by authorities in Virginia for a fatal accident on Interstate 77 in the state's western mountains.

William Petty, 57, of Lexington, S.C., died on Friday when a car in which he was a passenger hydroplaned while passing a tractor-trailer. He survived the crash, only to be killed moments later when the car was struck by second tractor-trailer, authorities told The Associated Press. 

The weather service issued a number of flood and flash flood warnings for the area.

“Gale conditions are expected near portions of coastal Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts,” the 5 a.m. notice said.

At 5 a.m., the storm was about 35 miles west-southwest off the eastern tip of Long Island, the weather service said.

Andrea had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, with higher gusts, and was moving northeast at 35 mph.

It was expected to turn toward the east on Saturday and Sunday. It is expected to move across Canada’s coast late Saturday through Sunday, the weather service said.

Flooding shut down highways across the tri-state, including a portion of the Saw Mill River Parkway in Westchester, NBCNewYork.com reported. It also slowed traffic significantly in places like the West Side Highway and the Northern State Parkway and Sunrise Highway on Long Island.

Long Island saw some of the worst flooding, in some places measuring more than 5 inches by late Friday night.

Hoboken, N.J., suggested residents move their cars to higher ground and offered discounted parking at two garages.

A number of roads were flooded in the Boston area. A flight that left Boston on Friday night headed to Palm Beach was diverted to Newark International Airport in New Jersey after being struck by lightning. There were no injuries.

The weather service reported that small streams and creeks in southeastern Pennsylvania were going over their banks Friday night.

The rainy weather washed out events such as NASCAR's Sprint Cup qualifying in Pennsylvania's Poconos, and MLB games in Washington, New York and Boston.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Tropical Storm Andrea drenches Florida
• Andrea lifts curtain on hurricane season
• More weather coverage from NBC News

No longer a tropical storm, the weather system called Andrea was making its way up the East Coast, threatening flash floods and dangerous storm surges into Saturday as far north as Maine.

Andrea was wandering up the coast at about 35 mph Friday night, the National Weather Service said. That should give it plenty of time to drop heavy rain on New York and New England overnight and into Saturday afternoon before it scrapes Canada's Atlantic coast and trickles off into the Atlantic Ocean sometime Sunday.

In the wake of the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, residents of the Southeast faced a weekend of cleaning up from severe flooding caused by torrents of rain — as much as 13.9 inches in North Miami Beach, Fla., on Friday alone.

In South Carolina, a 19-year-old man went missing as he was surfing with his brother, NBC affiliate WMBF reported. A search team was spread out along the beach Friday night, but it had been able to recover only a surfboard.

More from weather.com

Paul Stephen / The Star-News via AP

A man checks out the high surf Friday, June 7, along Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

Flood watches were in effect over a huge part of the East Coast, from Maine to Georgia, and Northeasterners who lived through Hurricane Sandy were on alert Friday.

Hoboken, N.J., resident Brian Smalleys, who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing his home after Sandy, told NBCNewYork.com that he has trouble sleeping when it rains heavily now.

"I just get nervous. I don't want it to happen again," he said.

New York  activated its flash flood plan — ready to send alerts to cellphones — and issued a hazardous travel advisory as moderate to heavy rain was expected through early Saturday.

In Florida, Andrea left behind considerable damage. 

The weather service recorded eight tornado reports in the state, with damage to houses and trees and downed power lines.

Related:

• Tropical Storm Andrea drenches Florida
• Andrea lifts curtain on hurricane season
• More weather coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Fri Jun 7, 2013 5:34 AM EDT

Tropical Storm Andrea — the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season — weakened considerably as it made landfall Thursday night, but it still packed enough punch to drench Florida and was expected to bring heavy rain to much of the East Coast through Saturday.

Tropical storm warnings remained in effect for coastal areas from Flagler, Fla., to Cape Charles Light in Virginia, but they were canceled for inland areas and Florida's Gulf Coast, the National Weather Service said early Friday. Maximum sustained winds — which hit 65 mph at landfall near the "Big Bend" area, about 35 miles northwest of Cedar Key, Fla. — dropped to 45 mph as the storm moved inland.

The waning storm was forecast to lose its tropical characteristics as early as Friday night as it moved across northern Florida on a path toward southeastern Georgia and the Carolinas before heading north. It was still expected to be a strong conventional storm system, however. 

Andrea's outer bands still carried very heavy rain, which caused flooding across South Florida.

More from weather.com

By later Friday, the storm was expected to affect major inland cities, including Washington and Philadelphia, bringing rain that could produce flooding, the National Weather Service said.

Heavily populated cities lie in the warning area that remains: the Tampa Bay area and Jacksonville in Florida; Charleston and tourist-packed Myrtle Beach in South Carolina; Wilmington and the heavily visited Outer Banks in North Carolina; and Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News, Va.

New York activated its flash flood plan — with possible alerts via mobile phone — and issued a hazardous travel advisory as moderate to heavy rain was expected through early Saturday.

The Weather Channel

The latest forecast path and wind speeds from the National Hurricane Center, with the projected path of Tropical Storm Andrea.

At least six possible tornadoes were reported Thursday in Florida, said Greg Forbes, a severe weather specialist for The Weather Channel. 

A tornado that ripped through Loxahatchee, Fla., damaging homes and tossing an 88-year-old woman from her bed. The fall broke both her legs, her son, Tim Kepler, told NBC station WPTV of West Palm Beach.

"A large oak tree twisted up like popsicle sticks," Kepler said. "It was just complete devastation."

Kepler's mother underwent surgery Thursday night and was expected to recover," Kepler said.

"It's always somebody else. It's always them," he said. "Well, today it's us," he said.

In the Acreage area of Palm Beach County, Lacey Mitten and her children, Sage, 11 and Hannah, 8, huddled in a bathtub as a probable tornado roared through her neighborhood, damaging her home.

"My sister and I just looked at each other. It sounded like a freight train," Mitten told NBCMiami.com. "We just got in the bathtub and held on."

M. Alex Johnson of NBC News contributed to this report.

Related:

• Andrea lifts the curtain on Atlantic hurricane season
• Storms, flash floods, twister danger in Plains
• More weather coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Thu Jun 6, 2013 6:30 AM EDT

The seemingly relentless wave of severe weather striking Oklahoma and other Southern Plains states was threatening again Wednesday.

A risk of severe thunderstorms was forecast from eastern New Mexico and Colorado, across Oklahoma and parts of Texas and Kansas, to Arkansas and southern Missouri, according to weather.com.

Flood warnings were also in effect in the Mississippi Valley from northern Illinois to Louisiana.

Get more from weather.com

Slideshow: Tornadoes hit central Oklahoma

KFOR-TV

Click to view scenes from Friday's violent storm.

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While the tornado risk appeared to be lower than it was when powerful twisters plagued the area, particularly Oklahoma, weather.com forecasters said pockets of large hail and damaging wind gusts were a concern in the Plains.

Early Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings for several counties in north-central Oklahoma and south-central Kansas, with severe thunderstorm watches in effect in surrounding areas.

Oklahoma was under flash-flood watches across much of its south-central region, with 2 to 4 inches of additional localized rain expected to fall Wednesday and Thursday on the already drenched soil, the weather service said.

Oklahoma City and its suburbs of Moore and El Reno — both devastated by recent tornadoes — were among the areas under flash-flood watches.

Oklahoma City and El Reno were under severe thunderstorm watches. The weather service said some tornadoes were possible.

The forecasts came as Oklahoma City and its suburbs continued to dig out from devastating storms, including Friday's El Reno tornado, which is believed to be the largest on record in the United States, stretching 2.6 miles across.

The EF-5 tornado, with winds well over 200 mph, and its resulting flooding killed 19 people, including six children, the Oklahoma Department of Health said.

That came less than two weeks after a tornado killed 24 people in Moore. The storms prompted Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin to declare a state of emergency in 41 counties.

Related: 

• El Reno tornado widest on record
• Levee breaks bring Mo. evacuations
• More weather coverage from NBC News

Richard Rowe / Reuters

A tornado near El Reno, Okla., on May 31.

The tornado that struck El Reno, Okla., on Friday night is believed to be the widest on record in the United States at 2.6 miles across, the National Weather Service reported on Tuesday.

The May 31 twister beat the previous record, a 2.5-mile wide storm that struck Hallam, Neb., on May 22, 2004.

The Friday tornado and its resulting flooding claimed 18 lives, including six children and a dozen adults, the Oklahoma Medical Examiner reported on Tuesday. Six of the victims remain unidentified. Area hospitals treated 115 injuries after Friday’s storm, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said.

The tornado’s width was measured by a mobile radar unit as the storm passed south of El Reno near Highway 81, the NWS said. The measurement only includes the tornado itself, and not winds surrounding the storm.

The tornado was also upgraded to an EF-5 classification, the most forceful category, according to the NWS.

El Reno is about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City.

The massive tornado struck less than two weeks after a tornado ripped through nearby Moore, Okla., leaving 24 people dead.

Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency in 41 counties as the storm-battered region recovered on Tuesday. Search and recovery efforts continued for victims who went missing after being swept away by Oklahoma River floodwaters, NBC News affiliate KFOR reported.

Related:

• At least 16 dead after rain, twisters lash mid-US; storms head east
• 12 dead in aftermath of tornadoes, floods
• More Oklahoma twisters!? Latest outbreak fits Tornado Alley’s pattern

Storm-battered Oklahomans again faced the risk of severe thunderstorms and even tornadoes on Tuesday as another storm system moved through the Plains and the Mississippi Valley, forecasters said.

Slideshow: Tornadoes hit central Oklahoma

KFOR-TV

Click to view scenes from Friday's violent storm.

Launch slideshow

Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said that isolated tornadoes were possible, along with damaging wind gusts and hail.

Severe thunderstorms were possible in the east and south Plains and the Mississippi Valley on Tuesday and the south Plains and north Texas on Wednesday, Roth said.

“Hard-hit Oklahoma has the severe threat both Tuesday and Wednesday,” he added.

He said there was a tornado risk for Oklahoma City late afternoon and evening on Tuesday.

“Strong thunderstorms” were also expected to hit Kansas City on Tuesday afternoon.

The National Weather Service published a map showing a large swath of the central and eastern U.S. at risk of thunderstorms and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri had a slight risk of severe storms.

“Primary threats will be large to very large hail and damaging wind gusts. Isolated tornadoes will also be possible,” the weather service said.

Residents of West Alton, Mo. were ordered to evacuate the town after a levee breach near Highway 67 that sent water gushing over the roadway, Fire Chief Richard Pender told NBC News affiliate KSDK.

A flash-flood warning was in effect for parts of McClain, Grady, and Cleveland counties in Oklahoma until 7:15 am local time, the National Weather Service reported, as heavy rainfall was expected to move through the area.

The nation's midsection has been battered by relentless storms in recent weeks. On Friday, severe weather began to sweep across through the region, leaving 21 dead from twisters, hailstorms and flash floods - most of them in Oklahoma and Missouri.

And on May 20, an EF5 tornado packing 210mph winds struck the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 23 including 7 children who died at an elementary school.

Related:

• As severe storm system finally passes East Coast, 21 dead left in wake
• Storm chaser caught in twister: It felt like I was going to heaven
• Oklahoma tornado deaths include three veteran storm chasers

This story was originally published on Tue Jun 4, 2013 5:34 AM EDT