The weather service warned that the threat of a few tornadoes was "likely." Forecasters also said scattered wind gusts up to 70 mph and hail the size of tennis balls are also possible.
Several central Ohio counties were also under tornado watches Thursday evening, just over two weeks after nine tornadoes hit the state on Feb. 28, knocking down trees and demolishing buildings.
Police in Ohio confirmed two deaths resulting from a fierce storm system in an email to The Associated Press early Friday. Chief Deputy Joe Kopus of the Logan County Sheriff's Office in Bellefontaine, Ohio, said there likely would be more fatalities discovered, noting there was heavy damage in Lakeview, Midway, Orchard Island and Russells Point.
The storm reportedly also destroyed a mobile home park and a Taco Bell in the eastern Indiana town and severely damaged other properties in Randolph County, about 85 miles east of Indianapolis. A funnel cloud was reported in southwestern Delaware County at around 8:20 p.m. EDT.
Further southeast, at several reported tornadoes wreaked havoc in southern Indiana and north-central Kentucky on Thursday.
Two tornadoes were confirmed outside of Madison, Indiana, one in Hanover and another in Switzerland County, according to the Indiana Emergency Management Agency.
No injuries have been reported but at least one home and a trailer were damaged. Nearly 9,000 power outages were reported in the state, USA TODAY's tracker showed.
In Kentucky, a tornado that touched down in the town of Milton damaged at least 50 structures, including homes, Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark confirmed. Fallen trees and downed power lines were also reported.
Over 5,000 outages were reported in the state, according to USA TODAY's outage map.
Weather service meteorologists earlier warned that tornadoes and large hail could possibly threaten parts of north-central Texas and the Midwest with the greatest overall threat occurring across eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.