Cities throughout Ohio and parts of the Midwest braced for more flooding Tuesday, a day after the storms and tornadoes damaged buildings and houses in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.
Three tornadoes touched down in Indiana on Monday. A tornado destroyed three homes in Henry County Kentucky, northeast of Louisville.
And six people were treated at a hospital in Maryville, Illinois, where the storm tore the roof in a church.
In the south, strong winds hit Alabama and Tennessee, where a man was killed after being trapped under a trailer.
A mixture of melted snow and heavy rains threatened flooding in all 88 counties of Ohio, the National Weather Service said.
And it is likely to worsen Tuesday, especially around Findlay, where residents know quite what to do when faced with the threat of high water.
Warren Krout lost almost everything within its pawn shop when flood waters inundated his shop in Findlay, Ohio, for nearly four years. With the rise of the river again, he had help this time.
University of Findlay football players mattress pads, an air hockey table and reclining chairs for the second floor of the shop Krout.
"Stack is as strong as possible," said the youth.
Stacked sandbags
What could not lead to this in the concrete block or left to chance.
"Some of these things is just going to have to go down the river," Krout said Monday.
Sandbags were stacked around the center as forecasts called for the Blanchard River to rise 6.5 meters above flood level.
That's just a foot lower than the catastrophic flood in August 2007 that flooded the city, 45 miles south of Toledo, and has caused millions of dollars in damages.
The river is expected to rise overnight to stabilize before yesterday morning.
"We anticipate a flood every time it rains," said Krout.
Parts of Ohio and Indiana received up to 3 inches of rain and hail during a Sunday night.
The boat crews rescued about 30 people, including a group trapped in a mobile home park in western Ohio, said Mike Robbins, director of Mercer County emergency management.
Elsewhere, a tornado hit Celestine, Indiana, a town of about 250, and damaged homes of two and a double-wide trailer, said weather service.
A tornado touched down near the small town of Ingalls, northeast of Indianapolis, damaged two houses, barns and a trailer.
"It was a wind that keeps getting stronger and stronger, to the point that we learned of debris," said Denise Arney, whose house was damaged, WRTV in Indianapolis. "We knew we had to go down."
In store Monday Krout, football players up windows to the piles of concrete blocks.
"I'm sweating like I was coming out of training," said Richard Sumlin, a junior who helped pile sandbags during last major flood in 2008.
City leaders said that some houses are in danger and drivers have difficulty in crossing the city should reach the predicted flooding.
"If the predictions come true, we'll be okay," said team owner Jack Bindel Store. "But other foot can make a big difference."
Photos of past floods, including the flood of 2007 which destroyed everything in his basement, decorate the wall behind his desk.
"People who live here understand that going to flood," said Bindel.
Meanwhile, the Decatur Daily reported that a storm with winds of up to about 70 mph crossed the Tennessee Valley, killing one man.
The newspaper said Melvin Hambrick, 79, died after being trapped under a trailer in northern Franklin County. A woman in the same place he was taken to hospital with unspecified injuries.
Hail "Golf Ball"
National Weather Service said Kurt Webber had been reports of hail the size of a "golf ball" in Cullman County, "the paper said.
Webber added that the storm had caused damage in several counties in the area.
Alabama saw heavy rain, hail and strong winds Monday.
He said a barn collapsed in Leesburg, Cherokee County. Pictures sent by email to the station showed hailstones the size of golf balls around Birmingham.
