A tornado that hit Oklahoma in 1999. (NOAA Photo Library via Creative Commons)

The NWS storm prediction center in Norman, OK is forecasting the outbreak of tornadoes and several thunderstorms likely to cover a large area from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. The center attributes the activity to “a very moist and unstable environment” spreading out of Louisiana and Mississippi into the lower Ohio Valley.

MSNBC issued an alert at 2:20 p.m. that officials confirmed three deaths after tornadoes hit southern Indiana. Just an hour before, authorities said tornadoes left extreme damage in southern Indiana and officials said one town was “gone.”

Earlier this week, storms in the Midwest and South killed 13 people in four states.

Senior Meteorologist Jonathan Erdman wrote on weather.com, “The unfortunate truth about spring weather patterns is they can lead to repeated severe outbreaks, sometimes in areas that were already hard hit.”

USA Today spoke with an Ohio resident:

To the east in Cleveland, Blaine Lawson and his wife Billie were watching the weather when the power went out and winds ripped the roof off their home. Neither were hurt.

"It just hit all at once," the 76-year-old Blaine Lawson said. "Didn't have no warning really. The roof, insulation and everything started coming down on us. It just happened so fast that I didn't know what to do. I was going to head to the closet but there was just no way. It just got us."

CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris wrote advice on what to do in the event of a tornado watch warning.

Follow Executive Producer Rosa Trieu on Twitter.