Severe Weather Claims 2 Lives in Washington and Mississippi as Storms Batter US

The agency said it was coordinating with local counties to survey the extent of the destruction, which left downed trees, damaged homes and widespread power outages in its wake.

Rudy Blalock

Published: 3/12/2026, 4:36:59 PM EDT

Severe Weather Claims 2 Lives in Washington and Mississippi as Storms Batter US — A storm-damaged Tholens' Landscape & Garden center is in ruins in the aftermath of a powerful storm that ripped through the area a day earlier in Kankakee, Ill., on March 11, 2026. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo)

Two people died in separate weather-related incidents in Washington state and Mississippi on Wednesday night as a powerful storm system continued its destructive march across large swaths of the country, authorities said.

In Monroe, Washington, a large tree toppled onto a vehicle along Florence Acres Road, killing the only person inside, according to Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue. Crews were dispatched to the 23200 block of Florence Acres Road around 8:21 p.m. Thursday, where they confirmed the death at the scene, authorities said. Fire officials urged motorists to avoid Old Owen Road and Florence Acres Road while emergency crews worked the area.

Hundreds of miles to the south, one person was killed and three others injured in Lawrence County, Mississippi, after severe weather tore through the state Wednesday night, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. The agency said it was coordinating with local counties to survey the extent of the destruction, which left downed trees, damaged homes, and widespread power outages in its wake.

As of Thursday morning, roughly 40,300 customers remained without electricity across Mississippi—down from a peak of more than 48,000 during the height of the storms, MEMA said. Six counties—Amite, Lawrence, Lincoln, Smith, Pike, and Walthall—reported some level of storm damage, according to the agency, which noted that the figures were preliminary and expected to change as assessments continued.

The deaths mark the latest toll from a relentless stretch of violent weather that has hammered states from Texas to Michigan over the past week, spawning tornadoes, producing massive hailstones, and leaving communities in ruins.

On Tuesday night, a large tornado ripped through Lake Village, a small community of roughly 700 residents in Newton County in northwest Indiana. The destruction killed an elderly couple whose home on the 8000 block of County Road 600 West was destroyed, according to Newton County Coroner Scott McCord.

"We've so far been fortunate that no other significant injuries have been reported," Newton County Sheriff Shannon Cothran said Wednesday, adding that search and rescue operations were still underway. "We still have a lot of excessive amount of traffic that we simply do not need. Once again, we ask people don't come to see the devastation or how many trees are down. Just let us have the room to work and stay off the roads in the immediate Lake Village area."

The National Weather Service attributed the Indiana damage to a single supercell that generated at least four tornadoes across Jasper and Starke counties in Indiana and Livingston and Kankakee counties in Illinois. Hailstones as large as five to six inches in diameter were reported in Kankakee, Illinois, where several buildings and homes sustained significant damage, though no deaths were confirmed there, according to the NWS and the Kankakee County Sheriff's Office.

The storm system's earlier rampage proved equally deadly. A mother and her teenage daughter were killed on March 5 when a tornado struck their vehicle near Fairview, Oklahoma. The following day, a married couple died in Beggs, Oklahoma, after a powerful tornado ravaged homes and schools in the area. In southern Michigan, four people were killed, and roughly a dozen were injured when multiple tornadoes touched down on March 6.