By Andrew Kozak and Kerry Breen
Updated April 18, 2026 / CBS News
Communities across the Midwest and Great Lakes began cleanup Saturday after multiple tornadoes and severe storms struck from the Great Lakes to Texas.
Poweroutage.us reported more than 70,000 customers without power Saturday morning in the Midwest and Great Lakes, though most had power restored by Saturday evening. The National Weather Service office in La Crosse, Wisconsin, said it issued 26 tornado warnings during Friday’s outbreak — the most for a single day since the office opened in 1995. “The most tornadoes occurred locally north of Interstate 90 in southeast Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin,” the office said.
An EF-2 tornado touched down in Rochester, Minnesota, about 90 miles south of Minneapolis, with peak winds up to 125 mph. Residents described the storm as sounding “like a freight train.” The main part of the tornado hit the home of an 89-year-old man; though the house took extensive damage, he was unharmed. More than a dozen homes in Rochester were damaged or destroyed, but there were no reports of serious injuries. Neighbors were working together to clear debris: “I don’t even know who a lot of these people are that are out helping,” one resident said. Another said, “At first it was exciting… but then when you watch it roll into your own neighborhood, and you know that your friends and neighbors are in the path of it, it’s very scary.”
In Lena, Illinois, a tornado caused extensive damage and knocked out power Friday afternoon. Stephenson County officials reported downed trees and wires blocking roads, and radio traffic indicated “fairly extensive damage” at the village’s elementary and high schools; both had students inside at the time. A Lena resident described hearing a large crash and sheltering in a basement with her dog. County officials said the storms did not result in loss of life or serious injury.
A tornado in a Kansas City suburb destroyed homes and cut power but did not cause fatalities or serious injuries. Oklahoma officials reported damage across the state: trees and power lines down in Ponca City and Kay County, roof damage to some homes, and damage to a marina at Kaw Lake; Osage County’s McCord area also saw downed trees and lines.
Another round of severe thunderstorms was forecast for Saturday afternoon into the night across parts of the Southern Plains, Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes, with about 28 million people under threat. The primary hazard was damaging winds, though isolated hail, flash flooding and tornadoes were possible. The storms were expected to push eastward, reaching the East Coast overnight Saturday into Sunday.
Jonah Kaplan and Anthony Bettin contributed to this report.