Severe storms threaten central US; trucker dies in Oklahoma

Spur: A storm system that's blamed for the death of a truck driver in Oklahoma barreled eastward on Wednesday, putting 21 million people in the central United States at risk for bad weather, forecasters said.

Three storm chasers also died yesterday in a collision as they raced toward a tornado-warned storm in West Texas, authorities said.

The storms that struck Texas and Oklahoma yesterday brought tornadoes, tennis ball-sized hail and powerful winds, but no widespread damage was reported. It's just the beginning of what's expected to be a stormy week in Tornado Alley and in parts of the South.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said an area stretching from Louisiana to central Missouri, including much of Arkansas, could see very large hail, strong tornadoes and powerful winds on Wednesday.

Parts of Texas were still at risk for storms as the system exited the state, and a tornado warning was issued for the Houston area this morning.
Forecasters said the storms could intensify tomorrow as the system moves past the Mississippi River.