Charleston, W.VA. – The storms sent streams on their banks and caused sudden floods in portions of West Virginia and Kentucky on Thursday, while a winter mixture of covered trees and ice roads and even dropped “Thunder Ice” in several states.
Residents and storm observers in parts of Indiana, southern Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania reported the unusual mix of “Thunder Ice” on early Thursday: ice rain accompanied by rays flashes in unstable air.
“Have you ever seen that?” Brian Heffner of Spencerville, Ohio, said in a video he posted on Facebook. “I’ve never seen ray and heard thunder during an ice storm. It’s great. “
In Western Virginia, the Thunder continued to come and arrive.
A long line of thunderstorms kept residents awake during the night with hours of heavy rains, flooding neighborhoods and causing accidents where water stagnated on some interstate roads. Schools in numerous counties delayed classes or closed on Thursday.
Several inches of rain in Charleston led County officials to activate an emergency operations center. The authorities responded to multiple rescue calls before the waters began to retreat at the end of the morning, authorities said. The majority of the West Virginia and the portions of eastern Kentucky and the southeast of Ohio remained under flood warnings for noon.
In Kentucky, a national weather service team was surveying damage reports after strong winds broke some scattered roofs and debris.
The storm left trees and roads in several states of the middle Atlantic covered with ice before the warmest temperatures moved for Thursday at noon. Most areas avoided significant power cuts that can accompany the ice accumulating in trees and electric lines.
The forecasts for several snow inches caused closures and delays for dozens of school systems in New England. In Maine, more than 200 schools and companies closed or closed early. The school district of the Kennebunk area was one of the many that decided to close completely instead of risking a messy trip for school buses in the afternoon.
“The road conditions are expected to deteriorate quickly once the snow begins, which could put students and staff at risk if we implemented an early release scenario,” said the superintendent of the Terri Cooper District.
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Associated Press Sarah Brumfield Cockeysville, Maryland and Patrick Whittle in Scarborough, Maine contributed to this report.
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