Midwest, Natural Disaster | featured news

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.

Across the Midwest and up and down the East Coast, millions of people are living without power. And they are not happy about it. More than 900,000 households remain without power early Wednesday in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio, the states hardest hit by the storm Friday night that packed 80-mph winds.

Tornadoes tore through parts of the U.S. Midwest on Sunday, killing at least 30 people in the Missouri town of Joplin and causing one death in Minneapolis as well as causing extensive property damage.

Officials are warning residents in low-lying areas to leave, as the Mississippi River approached a crest Monday.

Memphis area residents were warned on Saturday that they should not be fooled by sunny skies because the Mississippi River was gradually starting to "wrap its arms" around the city and rise to record levels.

An engorged Mississippi river spilled out onto huge swaths of farmland in the American South and Midwest on Wednesday, prompting massive flooding from Minnesota to Louisiana.