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A tornado struck an Indiana home, killing a man and injuring his wife while two people died in Arkansas after a tree fell onto a house there as severe weather rumbled through several states.
The tornado that struck the home Sunday evening was part of a storm system that pushed through a rural area of southern Indiana's Martin County. A tornado also touched down Sunday afternoon in the southern Indianapolis suburbs of Johnson County, damaging at least 75 homes, authorities said.
High winds caused tens of thousands of homes and businesses to lose electricity in Tennessee, Arkansas and Michigan.
The Indiana man was killed when the tornado hit the home in an isolated wooded area. His injured wife was flown by helicopter to a hospital, said Cameron Wolf, Martin County's emergency management director. The newer log cabin-style house was destroyed as a storm that also had large hail and other strong winds raked the area about 85 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
"The home that was totally destroyed, just a few feet away they had a shop building that is perfectly good," Wolf said. "I mean, didn't even touch it."
Another tornado touched down Sunday afternoon the suburban Indianapolis communities of Greenwood and Bargersville, officials said.
Bargersville Fire Chief Erik Funkhouser said at least 75 homes suffered moderate to severe damage in a 3-mile area as the tornado crossed Indiana State Road 135 in the vicinity of Interstate 69. Crews did not find any deaths or injuries from the tornado, which officials estimated was on the ground for about 15 minutes.
Kimber Olson, 42, told her 8-year-old son to sit in the bathtub while she stood outside and recorded video of what looked like two cyclones circling toward her apartment in Bargersville
"The sound is deafening," Olson told The Indianapolis Star. "You'll never forget the sound. Your ears pop in such a strange way. You get a ring in your ear."
After the tornado got closer, she went inside, closed all the doors and jumped in the bathtub with her son. She said she heard glass explode as her window shattered.
Sheriff's officials say two people were killed and a third was injured Sunday night in the central Arkansas community of Carlisle when a tree fell onto a home, KTHV-TV reported.
In the city of Millington, located north of Memphis, officials reported multiple rescues from homes and cars and planes overturned at the city's small airport. No injuries were immediately reported. The fire department reported extensive wind damage that knocked down trees, leading to road closures.
The storm caused more than 120,000 power outages in the Memphis area, with most of those homes and businesses still without electricity on Monday, utility officials said. More than 80,000 outages were reported in Michigan, mostly in the Detroit area.