LAKEVIEW, Ohio -- Tornadoes tore through the central U.S. on Thursday, killing three people and injuring dozens more.
Thursday night's storms left trails of destruction across parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas. About 40 people were injured and dozens of homes were damaged in one Indiana community. Tornadoes were also reported in Illinois and Missouri.
The Indian Lake area in Ohio's Logan County was one of the hardest hit. Three people died in the county northwest of Columbus, said Sheriff Randy Dodds.
Much of the damage was in the villages of Russells Point and Lakeview. The villages are dotted with cottages owned by people who come for fishing and boating.
Search crews and cadaver dogs didn't find any more victims Friday after going into neighborhoods that had been blocked by gas leaks and fallen trees overnight, Dodds said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who assessed the damage and met with residents, said it was fortunate the storm did not hit on a summer weekend.
A campground, an RV park and a laundromat were among the many businesses damaged. The storm produced fires in some spots and draped power lines through home windows, said Amber Fagan, president of the local chamber of commerce.
About 25 people were treated for mostly broken bones and internal injuries at the nearest hospital in Bellefontaine, said Laura Miller, a spokesperson for Mary Rutan Hospital.
About a half-dozen residents in Lakeview who were interviewed by The Associated Press said they heard tornado sirens 10 minutes before the storm hit, after they went off earlier.
Weather officials were assessing damage and confirming the tornadoes, counting at least five that touched down in Ohio alone.
In Indiana, a tornado injured 38 people in Winchester, where the mayor said some 130 homes and a Taco Bell restaurant were damaged or destroyed. Three people were in critical condition, but their injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
West of Winchester, officials said as many as half the structures in the town of Selma, population 750, might have been damaged. Only minor injuries were reported, emergency officials said in a news release.
Gov. Eric Holcomb praised first responders in Indiana, saying: "By the grace of God, everyone has lived through it all."
Storms also damaged homes and trailers in the Ohio River communities of Hanover and Lamb in Indiana.
In Milton, Ky., two people were injured when their car was hit by debris from a tornado that damaged as many as 100 homes and businesses, said Trimble County Emergency Management Director Andrew Stark.
COLORADO SNOWFALL
A major storm dumped over 4 feet of snow in northern Colorado before ending Friday, leaving thousands without power and continuing to make travel hazardous in the mountains and foothills west of Denver.
The storm shut down a highway that connects Denver to Colorado ski resorts for much of the day Thursday, stranding some people in their cars for hours. Portions of Interstate 70, the state's main east-west highway, first closed as the storm moved in Wednesday night.
The Colorado storm, which began Wednesday night, delivered the slushy, wet snow typical for March, one of the snowiest months in Denver, which got up to about 10 inches of snow. Between 10 and 20 inches fell in the metro area and 2 to 4 feet in the foothills, the National Weather Service said.
Snow reports were still being collected but the highest accumulation so far was 53 inches in Nederland, a mountain town near Boulder, the weather service said.
Trucks that got stuck in the snow, some without the tire chains required to travel the route, were the main reason traffic shut down on the highway after the storm moved in. Drivers stuck behind them had to wait for specialty tow trucks to come in and haul the big rigs out of the way to allow traffic to flow, said Sgt. Patrick Rice of the Colorado State Patrol.
While a boon to Colorado's ski industry, the extreme conditions shut down several ski resorts Thursday. While some of those were back open Friday, Eldora Mountain, near Nederland, was urging people to stay home and be patient until crews could dig out lifts, do avalanche control and clear parking lots and an access road. A six-wheel-drive grader went off the road while trying to clear it, the resort said.
The storm also closed numerous schools and government offices Thursday and Denver area schools were closed again Friday.
About 23,000 customers were without power in Colorado, primarily in metro Denver and along the Front Range, according to poweroutage.us.
About 800 flights were canceled at Denver International Airport on Thursday but only about 20 were scratched Friday and more than 200 were delayed, according to Flightaware.com.
Information for this article was contributed by Joshua A. Bickel, John Seewer, Colleen Slevin, Thomas Peipert, Isabella Volmert, Lisa Baumann, Sarah Brumfield, Rick Callahan, Stefanie Dazio, Kathy McCormack, Ken Miller, and Patrick Orsagos of The Associated Press.