Come Hail or High Water: After Midwest Storms, Atmosphere Reloads for More

Severe thunderstorms packing baseball-sized hail, damaging winds of up to 100 miles per hour, along with drenching rain and nearly continuous lightning rumbled across the Plains and Midwest on Tuesday evening. Omaha, Nebraska, was especially hard hit, with the airport measuring nearly hurricane-force winds, and planes were pummeled by accumulated hail

Omaha's Eppley Airport was forced to close for about three hours while planes were inspected for hail damage. Flash flooding also affected Nebraska and Iowa.

The onslaught of hail was so powerful that it stripped the paint off some houses all but destroyed vehicles. The widespread nature of the event, which stretched from central Nebraska, across Iowa, into northern Missouri and all the way to Kentucky by Wednesday morning, could make this a billion-dollar disaster once the insurance costs are added up. Read more...