Severe storms ravaged eight states in the south and northeast from Wednesday, June 14 through Thursday, June 15. The states impacted included Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Ohio causing more than 500,000 power outages.

More than 230,000 customers were without power in Texas. The worst of it for the lone star state occurred at Perryton where a tornado left three dead. One hospital in the town was taking care of 115 people who were injured during a devastated tornado despite the fact that it too was without power. The storm devastated mobile homes and structures and caused trees and power lines to fall. Crews were also dispatched from Amarillo, Lubbock, and Childress to provide assistance in cutting trees that blocked accessibility to damaged properties.

Forest Service crews from Texas A&M responded to a request from Perryton officials for assistance. The town experienced its first tornado since April 2008. It was also the first tornado to track through the Texas Panhandle since that date. The twister damaged several buildings.

On Wednesday, June 14, more than 150,000 electric customers were without power from Georgia to Texas. About half of the outages in the region were in Alabama, where 73,000 customers were in the dark.

One person was reported killed due to a tornado that struck Pensacola, Florida. A flash flood warning was in effect as one right after the other of heavy thunderstorms pounded the city. AccuWeather noted that more heavy rain was headed there. Their radar showed a lot of rain over Mississippi, Alabama and Parts of the Florida Panhandle on Friday, June 16. More than a foot of rain fell in parts of Florida.

According to the Escambia County Fire Rescue, more than 100 residents were evacuated from an apartment complex in the area. Ten inches of rain fell there on Thursday night. The drenching, which dropped more than 7-inches of rain in about 12 hours, broke a record average for the entire month of June. Another series of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms were heading for the Pensacola area on Friday morning. The storms that have struck this area knocked down trees and caused power outages on their way from the Red River Valley of Texas and Oklahoma into the South.

In the wake of the storm more than 500,000 people were without power across the south. States that were left without power included Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Heavy rain caused flooding and a flash flood emergency in the Florida Panhandle overnight on Thursday. Pensacola was pummeled with 9.3-inches of rain on Thursday evening, eclipsing the old daily record rainfall of 4.120-inches set in 1985. Other areas near Pensacola received more rain. A downpour of 15.7-inches caused floods at Gulf Breeze and 15.23-inches caused flooding in Warrington.

More than 100,000 electric utility customers were without power across the central United States from Ohio to Texas. Authorities in Ohio and Oklahoma reported that more than 25,000 utilities customers were without power as of Thursday night. Multiple tornadoes and damaging wind reports were recorded across Oklahoma throughout the day on Thursday. Hail measuring 3-inches in diameter fell from the sky across the Lawton, Oklahoma area and strong winds caused trees to fall, according to the National Weather Service.

One inch in diameter hail has been reported in multiple states including Colorado, Kansas Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia on Thursday.

More than 17,000 customers in Texas were without power and more than 16,000 were without power in Alabama. More than half of the residents of Ochiltree County, Texas were reported to be without power in the wake of a tornado.

Nearly 30 homes in Mississippi were damaged during a storm on Wednesday, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Damage was also reported in the southern portion of Miller County in Arkansas. There were reports of fallen trees and power lines as well as flash flooding. More than 460 residents were without power. The National Weather Service noted that straight- line winds believed to be 90 to 100 mph had caused much of the damage through the area.

AccuWeather was closely monitoring Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Nebraska for multiple long-lived severe thunderstorms called Derecho. Derechos storms resemble “inland hurricanes” and can produce damaging winds over a large area. The winds contained in Derechos can cause widespread damage to trees, power lines and buildings.

Heavy winds were reported from Texas to Florida. A wind gust of 82 mph struck Cleveland, Mississippi.

More than 130,000 lightning flashes were detected across the south.

According to poweroutages.us, as of Friday, June 16 at 12:21 p.m. Eastern time, the states with the worst power outages included:

• Texas 212,069
• Louisiana 173,318
• Mississippi 144,335
• Florida 78,198
• Alabama 34,429
• Pennsylvania 15,816
• Ohio 15,384
• Oklahoma 8,416

Don’t be vulnerable when severe weather strikes your region of the country. Consider the purchase of a standalone generator that can provide you with power when your power utility can’t.

AP Electric & Generators has a wide inventory of generators made by some of the most popular manufacturers in the country.

Visit the company’s website for more information at www.apelectric.com or call 847-516-8882 M-F from 8 to 5 PM Central.