Thunderstorm supercells threaten Midwest
(CBS News) GRANBURY, Texas - From Oklahoma City to Minneapolis, severe weather is threatening the nation's midsection on Sunday night.
There are tornado warnings up in Kansas and Iowa. Oklahoma and Missouri could also be hard hit.
Forecasters say a supercell of thunderstorms packing baseball-sized hail, heavy rain, and tornadoes could do a lot of damage.
Already a tornado has touched down this afternoon in Edmond, Oklahoma, and another on the southwest side of Wichita that police are calling "large and violent".
National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center
CBS News meteorologist Jeff Berardelli reports the greatest risk is across Oklahoma, Kansas and into parts of Missouri. Watches and warnings are ongoing.
There is a strong and cold upper level low destabilizing the atmosphere across the Rockies and Plain States. At the same time, there is a strong jet stream on the eastern side of that meeting up with moist Gulf air.
Some of the tornadoes could be on the strong side through Monday, and the severe weather threat could continue through the middle of the upcoming week.
One Texas family is still digging out from a tornado that touched down near their Granbury home last week.
Bobi Parsons spent Sunday picking through the pile of debris that used to be her family's home. Wednesday night, as the tornado swirled around the house, she huddled in a bathtub with her 16-year-old son and her husband Eddie, as an older son took cover with a friend in the bathroom next door.
Bobi: "I grabbed him and held on, holding my son on the other side and we were ducking and it was really scary."
Eddie Parsons, her husband, said: "She reached through the blanket, I was holding mattress down, she reached through and grabbed my arm and probably biggest hardest grip I ever felt in my life -- it was amazing."
When they emerged, the only thing left standing was the two bathrooms. The rest of the house was gone.
"I broke down because you know, I looked around and it was just amazing that, you know, all of this, this wiring and no electricity fell and hit my kids," Eddie said. "They were okay, you know. It was amazing. Just to see that god put his arms around these two walls, you know, and saved -- I mean He kept us safe."
The only possessions Bobi Parsons wanted to find today were her grandparents' wedding rings. And on the floor next to the bathroom, there they were.
"They were just sitting in the box, just like that on the ground in the box," Bobi said.
Sunday afternoon, friends of Eddie and Bobi Parsons put up an American flag in the tree next to their demolished home -- a sign of hope and survival.
All five members of the family turned out fine. They're all well but there are 110 homes in that subdivision and nearly all of them were damaged by the tornado. For many residents it will be months before they can get back to living in the area.
