Storms barreling across the heart of the United States continued to threaten rain and pose flooding risks Thursday after causing at least one death when a man apparently was struck by lightning in Wisconsin.
Authorities in Waukesha, west of Milwaukee, confirmed that a man was found down during heavy rainfall and intense thunderstorms on Wednesday evening. Preliminary information indicates the individual was struck by lightning while walking through the parking lot during the storm, police stated.
A complex weather pattern has swept over the Midwest, mixing moist air with a strong jet stream, leading to over 1,100 reports of large hail, winds exceeding 60 mph, and tornadoes since Monday. Meteorologist Bill Bunting of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center is working with teams to survey damage and confirm tornado counts.
The storms have disrupted multiple states throughout the week and are expected to persist into the weekend. Heavy rain has led to numerous flood warnings across the affected areas.
There’s been a tremendous amount of lightning with these storms over the last few days, remarked Mark Gehring, a meteorologist in Milwaukee. He noted, Temperature and humidity have persisted like summer for a full week in mid-April, resulting in very stormy conditions and tolls on infrastructure, such as overwhelmed wastewater treatment systems in northern Michigan.
In Cheboygan, Michigan, crews are manually pumping water from a dam, while residents were advised to prepare emergency supplies. Portage, Wisconsin is seeing significant flooding as river levels approach record highs, prompting Gov. Tony Evers to declare a state of emergency.
As this tumultuous weather system heads northeast, forecasters warn of another potential severe event on Friday evening, marking it as a critical day for storm-related hazards across the Midwest.
