Rare tornadoes strike America's heartland, destroying homes and knocking out power
ABC News
A storm that spawned possibly multiple tornadoes across America's heartland on Wednesday night has left a trail of destruction and hundreds of thousands without power.
A storm system that spawned possibly multiple tornadoes across America's heartland on Wednesday night -- rare for December -- has left a trail of destruction and hundreds of thousands without power.
At least 21 tornadoes were reported across three U.S. states -- Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota -- between Wednesday and Thursday. There were also rare severe thunderstorms in Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, more than 488,000 customers were without power across the Midwest, with Michigan and Wisconsin accounting for the highest volume of outages, according to data collected by PowerOutage.US.
A twister touched down in Plainview, Minnesota, just outside Rochester, on Wednesday evening, after tornado threats were issued for Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service. It was the first time Minnesota recorded a tornado in December, and the first-ever tornado watch and tornado warning to be issued for the state in December.