3 die in severe storms - more storms expected today

A band of storms that moved east from Indiana on Wednesday splintered homes, swept vehicles from flooded roads and dumped a historic covered bridge into a river. Three people were killed.

Storms swept through the nation's capital Wednesday after wreaking havoc in the Midwest.
A woman died Wednesday afternoon when a tree fell on a vehicle in Annandale, a Washington suburb, a fire department spokesman said.

Earlier Wednesday, authorities in West Virginia recovered the body of a 20-year-old man swept away while trying to drive his truck through high water.

Gov. Joe Manchin declared a state of emergency in at least 15 West Virginia counties after flooding and mudslides closed numerous roads. Some places reported more than 3 inches of rain.

In storm-weary central Indiana, state police said a woman died Wednesday morning when she drove her car into rushing flood waters.

A wave of thunderstorms that began Tuesday caused widespread flash flooding, with 5 inches of rain reported overnight in some areas.

A meteorologist in Virginia said that storms in the mid-Atlantic were part of a weather system that moved through the Midwest and Ohio Valley earlier Wednesday.

Residents were cleaning up in tiny Moscow, Indiana, a community of about 80 residents 35 miles southeast of Indianapolis, battered Tuesday by a tornado that destroyed one house, damaged four or five others and dumped a historic covered bridge into a river.

State officials said that a house was destroyed in Greene County, and aerial coverage showed that some rural farmhouses had been leveled.

One woman was in critical condition after being impaled in the upper chest by a 3-inch-diameter tree limb, said Charles Smith, chief of the Posey Township Volunteer Fire Department, who helped rescue her from storm debris.

"Her house was gone, along the side of the riverbank. There's nothing left of it," he said. "She didn't talk, but she was moaning."

Another tornado damaged 40 buildings at the Indiana National Guard's Camp Atterbury, about 25 miles south of Indianapolis. Two soldiers suffered minor injuries as they sought shelter.
In the mid-Atlantic, hundreds of thousands of people lost power and train service was disrupted just ahead of rush hour Wednesday.

Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and large hail are expected over parts of the eastern plains and upper Mississippi Valley on Thursday afternoon and into the night, according to the National Weather Service.

Areas expected to be affected by the severe weather include parts of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Severe storms are also possible from northwest Texas to the Great Lakes, the NWS said