Deaths, damage reported as severe weather spawns tornadoes, flash flooding in the Midwest

CHICAGO (AP) — First responders and utility crews worked overnight into Wednesday clearing roads from trees and wires that were downed during severe storms in the Midwest that unleashed tornadoes, heavy rains and flash flooding while knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers.

A 4-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell on a home in Geneva, Indiana, during Tuesday's storms, the Jennings County Sheriff's Office said. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said a resident of Roseville died during a health emergency when first responders, faced with flooded roads, couldn’t reach them. Officials in Portage, Indiana, were investigating whether the severe weather played a role in a reported house explosion that killed a person.

Lightning struck a prison complex southwest of Cleveland on Tuesday, injuring 16 incarcerated people who were hospitalized, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections. Their conditions weren't immediately known.

The storms inflicted a wide swath of damage from the Chicago area to western Pennsylvania, and the National Weather Service said threats of severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall will continue over the next few days in the Midwest, Ohio Valley and central Appalachians.

More than 700,000 customers were without power Wednesday morning in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, according to poweroutage.us.

The National Weather Service said it confirmed three tornadoes in counties south of Chicago. Water rescues were reported during heavy rains in several states including Ohio, where DeWine sent 40 Ohio Army National Guard members to help in two counties east of Columbus.

Tornado warning sirens howled Tuesday as the skies darkened in the Chicago area. All flights were temporarily stopped at Chicago’s two major airports, and officials warned of delays as the backlog was cleared.

Photos posted on social media from the Chicago area and across the state line in Indiana showed flooded roads, trees tangled in power lines and homes with gashes in their roofs.

“No power. It was very scary. We were down in the basement,” said Javid Jenkins of Homewood, a Chicago suburb. “We’re built for snow. We’re built for cold. We’re not built for this.”

Jenkins, 54, said he was driving around for gas to fire up a generator to preserve food in his refrigerator.

Forecasters said a wind gust of 99 mph (159 kph) was recorded in Gary, Indiana. Elsewhere there were numerous reports of gusts of 80 mph (128 kph) or more at personal weather stations.

Preliminary information indicated that the intense system that swept from Iowa into Indiana over several hours qualified as a derecho, the weather service's Storm Prediction Center said Tuesday evening. Derechos are prolonged straight-line wind events that unleash heavy rainfall and travel far distances. The damage they cause is sometimes comparable to the destructive forces of tornadoes or hurricanes.

“Total devastation. No roof,” said Kerry Hourigan, standing outside her home of 25 years in Tinley Park, another Chicago suburb. “Stupid thing, but my focus was I just bought a new barbecue grill, and I have no idea where that is. It’s disappeared.”

Meteorologist Scott Baker said the Midwest was on the outer edge of a “ring of fire,” bringing waves of excessive moisture, instability and storms.

Dayton, Ohio, set a daily rainfall record with 2.07 inches (5.25 cm), shattering a mark set in 1915, the weather service said. Forecasters said multiple rounds of rain would cause flood hazards in the Ohio Valley through early Friday.

White reported from Detroit. Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, Jennifer Garske in Washington, Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

In this image made from video, damage caused by a strong storm is seen a home in Tinley Park, Ill., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

A home is damaged after a storm in Tinley Park, Ill., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

In this image made from video, a roof is damaged after a strong storm in Tinley Park, Ill., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

Storm clouds move in over Paycor Stadium and practice fields during the Cincinnati Bengals' NFL football practice in Cincinnati, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Kerry Hourigan speaks on the phone after reviewing damage a storm caused to her home in Tinley Park, Ill., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. futures are pointing higher before the release of key inflation data for July that could provide a better idea of where prices are heading.

Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.3% Wednesday and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.7%.

Rising costs are being closely watched by the Federal Reserve as well as Republicans facing tough midterm elections and millions of Americans struggling with higher prices for everything from groceries to gasoline. Economists expect new data to show to show inflation slipped to 3.4% in July from 3.5% in June.

Cooler inflation could relieve pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates. Higher rates could curb inflation also would drag on the overall U.S. economy by making it more expensive for households and businesses to borrow money. Higher rates also would undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

Shares of cloud computing company CoreWeave surged more than 18% and Super Micro Computer's stock jumped nearly 9% before the market opened on strong quarterly results. CoreWeave more than doubled its revenue as customer demand accelerated in the second quarter. The strong earnings gave a boost to other companies involved in building the physical infrastructure of artificial intelligence data centers including Coherent Corp., Lumentum Holdings and Marvell Technology.

Oil prices are essentially flat Wednesday but sharply higher this week with the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the global oil supply runs, effectively shut down as fighting in Iran continues.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.19% to $89.08 early Wednesday. U.S. benchmark crude oil ticked up 0.4% to $83.53.

U.S. gasoline prices also edged 2 cents higher over night to a national average of $4.04 per gallon, according to motor club AAA. That's 16 cents higher than at this point last month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would seek compensation from Iran for the conflict after Tehran said it would seek payments from the U.S. before it opens the strait.

Meanwhile an attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait at Yemen's southern tip has raised concerns that the violence could reignite civil war and further threaten regional shipping routes.

“The renewed hostilities between the US and Iran suggest that a long-term reduction in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is now the most likely scenario,” said Ben May, director of global macro research at Oxford Economics.

Treasury yields have jumped since the war with Iran because of higher oil prices and worries about inflation. That has sent long-term mortgage rates to their highest levels in a year.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX rose 0.47% to 26,514.56, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.12%, to 8,705.08. Asian trading was mixed.

The U.S. dollar slipped to 159.16 Japanese yen from 159.22 yen. The euro was down slightly at $1.1537.

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok

A general view shows the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)