Fox News Flash top headlines for April 29
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Powerful hail, tornadoes and flooding swept the southern U.S. again Wednesday night, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Flooding was reported in southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas as severe weather and heavy rain pummeled cities in the region.
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In Texas, more powerful supercell thunderstorms forced the National Weather Service to issue tornado warnings through early Thursday.
More than 28,000 customers were still without power Thursday morning, according to power outage tracker PowerOutage.US.
The system also brought hail as large as 3 inches to San Antonio and Fort Worth.
However, images out of central Oklahoma on Tuesday were the most shocking, revealing the aftermath of an extreme hailstorm that destroyed cars, businesses and residences.
EF-1 tornadoes had already hit Pauls Valley and Stilwell, Okla., Tuesday and into Wednesday.
Nearby communities were beginning to pick up the pieces, but Wednesday night's storms dropped hail the size of baseballs on the city of Norman, Okla.
Residents, who had also lost power in the storm, posted shocking images and video footage to Twitter.
Car dealerships were shown with extensive damage, and car windshields were shattered and exteriors dented.
Video showed a local Walmart had been "hammered" with hail and water leaked from the roof.
The large glass windows of a Taco Bell on 24th Street had been completely blown out.
Residents in their homes tweeted videos of their pools and damage to their kitchen, dining room and bedroom windows.
In an evening tweet, the National Weather Service reported winds of up to 75 mph.
"A dangerous storm, with history of producing baseball sized hail and 75mph winds continues to move east through central Oklahoma," the agency warned. "If you're in Pink, Bethel Acres, and Shawnee, be careful with this dangerous storm and take cover!"
Powerful wind gusts hurled the chunks of ice at an angle, which one Twitter user captured on their Nest Cam.
Local outlet KOCO reported that Norman police had yet to receive reports of any storm-related injuries.
Meteorologists online estimated Thursday that hail damage in Texas and Oklahoma would exceed hundreds of millions or up to more than $1 billion.
Storm intensity was forecast to decrease in Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday, with temperatures warming.
Springtime hail is common in the central part of the U.S., as are supercell thunderstorms "driven by a rotating updraft," according to Forbes.
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The outlet also noted that while reports of large hail are the most common in the Plains region, isolated reports of giant hailstones have extended as far north as Maine and as far south as Miami.
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