Photos

Deadly Flooding, Tornadoes Strike the Midwest, Ohio Valley (PHOTOS)

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Bridgeport, West Virginia, fireman Ryan Moran exits a home as he and a crew search homes in Rainelle, W.Va., Saturday, June 25, 2016. Heavy rains that pummeled West Virginia left multiple people dead, and authorities said Saturday that an unknown number of people in the hardest-hit county remained unaccounted for. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Bridgeport, West Virginia, fireman Ryan Moran exits a home as he and a crew search homes in Rainelle, W.Va., Saturday, June 25, 2016. Heavy rains that pummeled West Virginia left multiple people dead, and authorities said Saturday that an unknown number of people in the hardest-hit county remained unaccounted for. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Powerful storms packing tornadoes and hurricane-force winds swept through parts of the Midwest Wednesday night, and the same storm system brought catastrophic flooding to West Virginia a day later, killing more than two dozen people.

A news release from West Virginia Gov. Earl Gray Tomblin's office announced that a federal disaster declaration was approved for assistance in Kanawha, Greenbrier and Nicholas counties. The declaration provides people in those counties with individual assistance for emergency medical support, housing and a number of other immediate needs.

Before the declaration, Gov. Tomblin expanded a state of emergency to 44 counties inundated by flooding, WSAZ.com reported. The governor also authorized the deployment of the West Virginia National Guard to assist local emergency responders.

(MORE: The Latest on the Severe Weather Outbreak)

Some areas of the state are "probably looking at flooding that's going to be the worst in 100 years," said the governor's communications director Chris Stadelman.

The first round of storms spawned at least a dozen tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, two of which were rated EF2. These twisters left behind moderate damage in some small northern Illinois towns, but no deaths were reported from those tornadoes.

At Soldier Field in Chicago, some 50,000 soccer fans attending the Copa America semifinal game between Chile and Colombia were asked to clear the stands and seek shelter Wednesday evening, according to the Associated Press. The teams were allowed to play the first half, but storms moved in at halftime, forcing stadium officials to activate the storm safety plan.

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