14 dead in system of Midwest storms, tornadoes that isn't done yet

A storm system that killed at least 14 people over a wide swath of the nation threatened Monday to bring more weather havoc to the East Coast, forecasters warned.

"Thunderstorms ... accompanied by potentially damaging wind gusts and the risk for a few tornadoes" are expected to develop over much of the Upper Midwest all the way to Virginia and Maryland, the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said.

AccuWeather meteorologist Jake Sojda told USA TODAY the biggest threat of severe weather would be Monday afternoon and night from Georgia to New York state.

"When we get afternoon heating, thunderstorms will strengthen," Sojda said. "Today it will primarily be damaging winds. There is the potential for isolated tornadoes, particularly across the Carolinas and into Georgia."

Some of the cities at greatest risk of severe storms Monday are Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Greensboro, N.C., the Storm Prediction Center said.

By Tuesday the cold front that "is driving all this" will have rolled out to sea, Sojda said. That will bring a welcome reprieve to the nation after a wave of killer storms and tornadoes over the weekend tore through an area stretching from Missouri to Texas and east into Mississippi and Alabama.

More on storms:

It's been a disastrous, costly start to the year for weather

Tornadoes, storms continue deadly rampage in Midwest, South

Multiple fatalities reported as floods, tornadoes hit Midwest, Texas

Four people died and dozens were injured in eastern Texas when a series of tornadoes moved through an area around Canton, Mayor Lou Ann Everett said. In Arkansas, flooding and high winds were blamed for five deaths, the Associated Press said.

Though the rain has ended in the central U.S., rivers will continue to rise this week to record levels in some areas, threatening lives and property, AccuWeather said.

Two deaths were reported each in Missouri and Mississippi and a 2-year-old girl in Tennessee was killed by a soccer goal post blown away by high winds. Melanie Espinoza Rodriguez was transported to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the Metro Nashville Police Department said.

In Texas, search teams went door to door Sunday after storms tore through an area 35 miles long and 15 miles wide, Everett said. Homes were destroyed, trees and power lines downed, and thousands were without power.

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