Storm Tornado Central US: Meteorologists received eight reports of twisters touching down during a three-hour period, according to the National Weather Service.
Tornadoes were reported from Texas to Illinois late Thursday with the region also battered by high winds and baseball-sized hail as stated by NBC News.
Matt Crowther, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel said, "What was supposed to be a tornado outbreak turned out to be not quite an outbreak, but there were still a few reported tornadoes. There have been eight reports but there could have been more than that."
According to The Weather Channel, hundreds of buildings were damaged and least four people were injured.
Between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time Thursday, four of the twisters hit northeast Texas. 'The last of these reportedly took a barn off its foundation and tore down several trees about five miles northwest of Mount Vernon. Three twisters reportedly hit in Missouri and another was suspected in the southern tip of Illinois,' NBC News reported.
According to The Associated Press, earlier Thursday, there was a pre-dawn EF-1 tornado in a neighborhood of St Louis, Mo., which damaged around 100 homes but left no injuries.
The hail storm hit a band of the central U.S. including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kansas.
Crowther said that there were also high winds, including gusts of 80 mph near Denton, Texas. These were expected to continue throughout Friday but the tornado threat was "very low."
Sandi Brackeen, Texas sheriff's office spokeswoman said that "a tornado touched down south of Krum."
"Outbuildings and barns, but no known homes or commercial properties, suffered damage," said county emergency services chief Jody Gonzalez.
"We do have significant hail damage across the county, downed tree limbs, roof and gutter damage, and busted windows. Gonzales stated. Some residents "took pictures of little rope tornadoes that did touch down. We do not have any reports of injuries," Gonzalez added.
According to Ksat, 'authorities in Jefferson County, Missouri, made "a couple of water rescues and evacuated a couple of mobile homes" due to rising waters there tied to flash-flooding reports that first came in around 2:15 p.m, said the county emergency management spokesman Warren Robinson. While several highways had closed, Robinson didn't know of any significant damage in his eastern Missouri County.'
'The Storm Prediction Center is forecasting a slight risk of severe weather -- down from the moderate risk reported earlier -- for along and around the path of Mississippi River, as well as for a large swath of Texas, including Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio,' Ksat reported.
