Midwest Tornado Outbreak: Death Toll Rises as Officials First Real Look at Damage

Death toll rises from Sunday's outbreak:

• Death toll rises to 8
• A preliminary rating of EF4 has been given to the tornado that hit New Minden, Ill. (170-190 mph)
• Two preliminary EF4 tornadoes hit Washington, Ill. (166-200 mph)
• Preliminary EF2 tornado hit near Coal City, Ill. (111-135 mph)
• EF0 tornado confirmed in Portland, Tenn.
• EF0 tornado confirmed in Otsego County, Mich. (65-75 mph); northernmost tornado this late in the year for the state
• EF1 tornado in Butler County, Ky. (105 mph max.)

WASHINGTON, Ill. -- As a powerful tornado bore down on their Illinois farmhouse, Curt Zehr's wife and adult son didn't have time to do anything but scramble into their basement.
Uninjured, the pair looked out moments later to find the house gone. Their home on the outskirts of Washington, Ill., was destroyed Sunday by one of the dozens of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms that swept across the Midwest in a swift-moving line of violent weather that killed at least eight people and unleashed powerful winds that flattened entire neighborhoods, flipped over cars and uprooted trees.
"They saw (the tornado) right there and got in the basement," said a stunned Zehr, pointing to the farm field near the rubble that had been his home.
(MORE: Midwest Tornado Outbreak Interactive Map)
Washington Mayor Gary Manier estimated that 250 to 500 homes had been damaged or destroyed. It wasn't clear when residents would be allowed to return.

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Tornadoes Rip Through Midwest

"Everybody's without power, but some people are without everything," Manier told reporters in the parking lot of a destroyed auto parts store and near a row of flattened homes.
"How people survived is beyond me," he said.
The unusually powerful late-season wave of thunderstorms brought damaging winds and tornadoes to 12 states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and western New York.
Illinois was the hardest hit, with at least six people killed and dozens more injured. Authorities said Monday that two other deaths occurred in Michigan.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn promised all the assistance the state could provide to victims of what he said were the deadliest November tornadoes in state history.
"We're all in this together," Quinn said.
"Sunday was the second most active severe weather day of 2013, with roughly 500 total reports of wind damage, high winds, tornadoes, and large hail," said weather.com Senior Meteorologist Jon Erdman.
"Damage surveys will be conducted to confirm final tornado counts, but this could be the largest November tornado outbreak in the U.S. in almost eight years."
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