Winter storms bring flooding and 'thunder ice' in several US states

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Storms spawned at least one brief tornado, sent creeks over their banks and caused flash flooding Thursday in portions of West Virginia and Kentucky, while a wintry mix coated trees and roads in ice and even dropped “thunder ice” in several states.

Residents and storm spotters in portions of Indiana, southern Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania reported the unusual mix of freezing rain accompanied by flashes of lightning in the unstable air.

“You ever seen that?” Brian Heffner of Spencerville, Ohio, said in a video he posted on Facebook. “I've never seen lightning and heard thunder during an ice storm. It's cool.”

A long line of thunderstorms kept residents awake overnight with hours of heavy rains, flooding neighborhoods, triggering mudslides and rockslides, and causing accidents where water ponded on some interstate highways. Schools in numerous counties delayed classes or closed Thursday.

Multiple drivers had to be rescued after getting stranded in the floodwaters, authorities in West Virginia said. And the rescues weren’t limited to humans. The Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association asked the community to adopt or foster 15 dogs after a portion of its shelter began to get flooded.

Several inches of rain in Charleston prompted county officials to activate an emergency operations center. In Huntington, along the Ohio River, residents of some areas were told remain in their homes for several hours during flooding before the advisory was lifted Thursday afternoon. Much of West Virginia and portions of eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio remained under flood warnings by Thursday evening.

In south-central Kentucky, the National Weather Service confirmed a short-lived EF1 tornado with winds of up to 95 mph (150 kph) tore apart some roofs and scattered debris in Hart County, about an hour south of Louisville. No injuries were immediately reported.

Late Thursday, severe storms with possible tornadoes moved through eastern Tennessee. The Tennessee Highway Patrol said on social media that troopers were in Morgan County ensuring resident safety and assessing and helping with structure damage.

The Morgan County School District said on its website that schools would be closed Friday because of “significant damage from tornadoes in parts of our county.”

A storm coated trees and roads in ice in several mid-Atlantic states before warmer temperatures moved in by midday Thursday. Most areas avoided significant power outages that can accompany accumulating ice on trees and power lines.

Forecasts for several inches of snow prompted closures and delays for dozens of school systems in New England. In Maine, more than 200 schools and businesses were closed or shutting early. The Kennebunk area school district was one of many that chose to close fully rather than risk a messy commute for afternoon school buses.

“Road conditions are expected to rapidly deteriorate once the snow begins, potentially putting students and staff at risk if we were to implement an early release scenario,” said district superintendent Terri Cooper.

Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield Cockeysville, Maryland, and Patrick Whittle in Scarborough, Maine, contributed to this report.

Dale West, a maintenance technician for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, Division 2 in Dummerston, Vt., plows the left lane of I-91 from Exit 3 to the Massachusetts state line during a snowstorm Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)

Footprints are seen in snow in Fort Tryon Park, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Cars drive through rain, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Molly, left, and Eric Bemis walk their dogs on a snow covered road, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in East Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A state road crew cleared debris from a creek along Big Bottom Hollow Road in Campbells Creek, just outside of Charleston, W.Va.,, after flood waters came across the roadway and entered the nearby Mary Ingles Elementary School on Thursday Feb. 6, 2025. (Sean McCallister

This is an aerial photo of Point Lick Park and the surrounding area of Campbells Creek, just outside of Charleston, W.Va., which flooded early Feb. 6, 2025. (Sean McCallister/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

A person walks through the snow during a storm in Portsmouth, N.H., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

People walk in snowy streets during a storm in Portsmouth, N.H., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

A person walks through the snow during a storm in Portsmouth, N.H., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Larry Addington Field at Boyd County High School in Cannonsburg, Kentucky stands underwater, on Feb. 6, 2025, after overnight rains flooded the area. (Zack Klemme/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

Harry Miller works to open a clogged sewer drain near his house in Nitro, W.Va., as his neighbors look on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Chris Dorst/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

A crew clears snow during a storm in Portsmouth, N.H., Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

A car is stuck in debris on Bear Fork Road along Kanawha Two Mile Creek near the Edens Fork Road overpass in Kanawha County outside of Charleston, W.Va., on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (Christopher Millette/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

Trees covered in ice line the Great Allegheny Passage near Frostburg, Md., on Thursday, Feb. 6 2025. (Ken Nolan/Cumberland Times-News via AP)

Maryland Department of Transportation employees use a backhoe to load a truck with salt at the State Highway Administration District 6 Office in LaVale, Md., Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Steve Bittner/Cumberland Times-News via AP)

Flooding along the swollen Pocatalico River is shown Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Poca, W.Va. (AP Photo/John Raby)

Horses seek higher ground after thunderstorms caused flooding Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Poca, W.Va. (AP Photo/John Raby)

LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — Like many retirement communities, The Terraces serves as a tranquil refuge for a nucleus of older people who no longer can travel to faraway places or engaging in bold adventures.

But they can still be thrust back to their days of wanderlust and thrill-seeking whenever caretakers at the community in Los Gatos, California, schedule a date for residents — many of whom are in their 80s and 90s — to take turns donning virtual reality headsets.

Within a matter of minutes, the headsets can transport them to Europe, immerse them in the ocean depths or soar them on breathtaking hang-gliding expeditions while they sit by each other. The selection of VR programming was curated by Rendever, a company that has turned a sometimes isolating form of technology into a catalyst for better cognition and social connections in 800 retirement communities in the United States and Canada.

A group of The Terraces residents who participated in a VR session earlier this year found themselves paddling their arms alongside their chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins while watching one of Rendever's 3D programs. “We got to go underwater and didn't even have to hold our breath!” exclaimed 81-year-old Ginny Baird following the virtual submersion.

During a session featuring a virtual ride in a hot-air balloon, one resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, “It's hard to watch!”

The Rendever technology can also be used to virtually take older adults back to the places where they grew up as children. For some, it will be the first time they've seen their hometowns in decades.

A virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City's Queens borough helped sell Sue Livingstone, 84, on the merits of the VR technology even though she still is able to get out more often than many residents of The Terraces, which is located in Silicon Valley about 55 miles south of San Francisco.

“It isn't just about being able to see it again, it's about all the memories that it brings back,” Livingstone said. “There are a few people living here who never really leave their comfort zones. But if you could entice them to come down to try out a headset, they might find that they really enjoy it.”

Adrian Marshall, The Terraces' community life director, said that once word about a VR experience spreads from one resident to another, more of the uninitiated typically become curious enough to try it out — even if it means missing out on playing Mexican Train, a dominoes-like board game that's popular in the community.

“It turns into a conversation starter for them. It really does connect people,” Marshall said of Rendever's VR programming. “It helps create a human bridge that makes them realize they share certain similarities and interests. It turns the artificial world into reality.”

Rendever, a privately owned company based in Somerville, Massachusetts, hopes to build upon its senior living platform with a recent grant from the National Institutes of Health that will provide nearly $4.5 million to study ways to reduce social isolation among seniors living at home and their caregivers.

Some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions, burnish memories and foster social connections with their families and fellow residents of care facilities. Experts say the technology may be useful as an addition to and not a replacement for other activities.

“There is always a risk of too much screen time," Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at Sheridan College in Canada, said. “But if you use it cautiously, with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful. It can be an opportunity for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”

VR headsets may be an easier way for older people to interact with technology instead of fumbling around with a smartphone or another device that requires navigating buttons or other mechanisms, said Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is examining the use of VR with older adults.

“The stereotypes that older adults aren’t willing to try new technology needs to change because they are willing and want to adapt to technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmick said. "Besides helping them to relieve stress, be entertained and connect with other people, there is an intergenerational aspect that might help them build their relationships with younger people who find out they use VR and say, ‘Grandpa is cool!’"

Rendever CEO Kyle Rand's interest in helping his own grandmother deal with the emotional and mental challenges of aging pushed him down a path that led him to cofound the company in 2016 after studying neuroengineering at Duke University.

“What really fascinates me about humans is just how much our brain depends on social connection and how much we learn from others,” Rand said. “A group of elderly residents who don't really know each other that well can come together, spend 30 minutes in a VR experience together and then find themselves sitting down to have lunch together while continuing a conversation about the experience.”

It's a large enough market that another VR specialist, Dallas-based Mynd Immersive, competes against Rendever with services tailored for senior living communities.

Besides helping create social connections, the VR programming from both Rendever and Mynd has been employed as a possible tool for potentially slowing down the deleterious effects of dementia. That's how another Silicon Valley retirement village, the Forum, sometimes uses the technology.

Bob Rogallo, a Forum resident with dementia that has rendered him speechless, seemed to be enjoying taking a virtual hike through Glacier National Park in Montana as he nodded and smiled while celebrating his 83rd birthday with his wife of 61 years.

Sallie Rogallo, who doesn't have dementia, said the experience brought back fond memories of the couple's visits to the same park during the more than 30 years they spent cruising around the U.S. in their recreational vehicle.

“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she said of the virtual visit to Glacier. “This lets you get out of the same environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have been.”

In another session at the Forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed with delight while viewing a virtual classical music performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and later seemed to want to play with a puppy frolicking around in her VR headset.

“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big grin after she took off her headset and returned to reality.

Rendever CEO Kyle Rand is pictured at Salesforce Park in San Francisco on June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Jim Holtshouse and his son, Mike Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Bob Rogallo watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Mike Holtshouse and his father, Jim Holtshouse, watch video through Rendever virtual-reality headsets at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Jim Holtshouse watches video through a Rendever virtual-reality headset at the Forum at Rancho San Antonio retirement community in Cupertino, Calif. on June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)