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Tornado Weekend: Warnings After 10 Twister Sightings in South, Midwest

One tornado had already been reported in Louisiana, while three were reported in Texas and six in Kansas.
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/ Source: NBC News

About 35 million people in the Midwest and South were warned Saturday to prepare for the possibility of tornadoes after 10 twisters touched down a day earlier in Louisiana, Texas and Kansas.

A tornado watch was in effect for parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Indiana, according to the National Weather Service. Southern Georgia and northern Florida were also under watches. A tornado was most likely to hit Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky in the late afternoon or evening, according to Weather.com.

The Illinois Marathon in Champaign was canceled four hours in as a thunderstorm rolled in during the race, according to the marathon's website. More than 300 runners had to evacuate the course after 25 lighting strikes were spotted nearby, the site said.

People in Louisiana, Mississippi, the Florida Panhandle and Alabama could expect severe thunderstorms Saturday, Weather.com reported. These areas could also anticipate flooding, according to The Weather Channel's Michael Palmer.

Revelers and musicians at the New Orleans Jazz Fest were getting soaked, but the show went on, with only one canceled performance according to the festival's Twitter page.

One tornado had already been reported in Louisiana, while three were reported in Texas and six in Kansas.

Wind gusts of 70 to 90 mph hit northern Texas Friday night, knocking out power for 52,000 homes, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. At least 8,300 customers were still without electricity on Saturday afternoon, utility Oncore said.

About 50 homes were damaged and four were destroyed in Johnson County, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth, said Jamie Moore, a spokesman with Texas Emergency Management.

Travelers at Dallas Love Field Airport huddled in a storm shelter Friday night as they waited for a severe thunderstorm to pass and for flights to resume. The airport reported that it was back to normal operations on Saturday morning but more than 100 flights were canceled or delayed out of Dallas-Fort Worth airport, according to FlightAware.com.

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— Elisha Fieldstadt