Severe storms leave over 260 000 without power, 1 dead across Midwest after tornado warnings in St. Louis and Illinois
Severe storms moved across the Midwest on Monday, April 27, 2026, producing tornado warnings in the St. Louis area and Illinois, while heavy rain caused flooding into early Tuesday. More than 250 000 customers lost power across Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and at least one fatality was reported in Michigan after a tree fell during the storms.
Satellite image of U.S. acquired at 23:30 UTC on April 27, 2026. Credit: NOAA/GOES, Zoom Earth, The Watchers
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued multiple tornado warnings as storms moved through the St. Louis region and Illinois on Monday afternoon.
Warning text relayed from NWS St. Louis placed one tornado-warned storm over the St. Louis metro area at 14:01 CDT (19:01 UTC), with radar-indicated rotation and quarter-size hail affecting communities including St. Louis, East St. Louis, Madison, Granite City, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Maryville, Glen Carbon, and O’Fallon.
NWS Lincoln, Illinois, warned that severe storms would continue through the evening across central, east-central, west-central, and southeast Illinois. The office identified damaging winds and tornadoes as the main concerns in southeast Illinois, with heavy rainfall capable of producing flooding. Storms were moving east-northeast around 80 km/h (50 mph).
The strongest pre-storm risk corridor extended from parts of Missouri into Illinois, including the St. Louis area. NWS Lincoln’s 15:24 CDT briefing placed the most probable damaging wind gusts at 97–113 km/h (60–70 mph) in parts of Illinois, with localized gusts above 113 km/h (70 mph), large hail potential, and rainfall swaths of 25–76 mm (1–3 inches) capable of causing scattered flash flooding in urban and low-lying areas.
NWS St. Louis issued flood warnings for several Missouri rivers and parts of Illinois, with some warning products citing 51–152 mm (2–6 inches) of rain and reports of flash flooding from law enforcement and emergency management.
The storms brought hail, strong winds, and heavy rain across the Midwest, flooding streets, stranding commuters and cutting power to more than 260 000 customers across six states.
As of 09:00 UTC on April 28, there were 65 000 customers without power in Indiana, 55 500 in Michigan, 41 300 in Tennessee, 33 800 in Ohio, 27 000 in Missouri, 24 000 in Kentucky, 10 600 in Illinois, and 8 000 in Wisconsin, according to PowerOutage.
Kansas City emergency responders carried out multiple water rescues after 81 mm (3.2 inches) of rain fell at Kansas City International Airport over six hours, and hundreds of schools in the St. Louis area closed early because of the severe-weather threat.
One confirmed fatality was reported in Kent County, Michigan, where a 39-year-old man was killed when a tree fell during powerful winds. The incident happened in Courtland Township near 16 Mile Road, according to the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.
“We had a pretty good sheet of wind come through, mainly in the north part of the county. And we had about 25 to 30 trees reported down. There were some that were very large, some that were just branches, some small, but kind of combination of everything,” said Jerry Byrne, managing director of the Kent County Road Commission.
Another person was injured near Hoffman Court and Locust Street in Kalamazoo. According to Scott Brooks, Kalamazoo fire marshal, the person was sitting on the front porch when the tree collapsed on top of the house, trapping him underneath.
Local media reported downed trees, damaged structures, power-line damage, and hail damage in the St. Louis region.
Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has received 2 reports of tornadoes on April 27 — one from Germantown in Clinton County, IL, and another near Hanover in Stone County, AR.
Video evidence provided by Live Storms Media shows tornado damage in Germantown, IL:
References:
1 Flash Flood Warning – NWS/Lincoln – April 27, 2026
2 Fast-moving storms batter the Midwest, flooding streets and stranding commuters – AP – April 28, 2026
3 Reports of power outages, damage across St. Louis region due to storms – First Alert 4 – April 27, 2026
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
Commenting rules and guidelines
We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules.