This Week in Review: California Fires Claim $15 Million inDamage as Rain, Snow Blast Portions of US

Powerful thunderstorms roared through the Midwest and East this week bringing isolatedtornadoes, snowfall, damaging winds and severe flooding to portions of the country.

Meanwhile in thedrought-strickenWest,multiplewildfiresblackened therollinghills ofnorthernSanDiegoCounty,California,forcingtheevacuation ofrainbarrelsthousands,causingmillionsofdollarsindamagesandconsuming morethan 14squaremiles intheirwake.

OnSunday,a seriesofpowerful thunderstorms cut power to thousands as it pushed across the Plains including Kansas,Iowa and Nebraska, bringing damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.

A path of devastation is left behind after a tornado barrels through Sutton, Nebraska, on Sunday,May 11, 2014. (Twitter Photo/@AviWxChasers )

A tornado touched down in Sutton, Nebraska, with no significant injuries reported. Tornadoes alsotouched down near McPherson and Nickerson, Kansas; Sheldon, Iowa; Rensselaer, Indiana; andFriend, Nebraska.

In parts of Colorado, more than two feet of snowfall was reported in some areas. Wind gusts topping80 mph and baseball-sized hail also followed with the storms.

Also late Sunday, mandatory evacuations were ordered after a wildfire ignited in HutchinsonCounty, Texas, officials said.

The severe weather threat, which began on Sunday across the Plains, continued into Monday nightas storms move eastward.

Heavy flooding, damaging winds and large hail with a few isolated tornadoes were reported acrossfrom Texas to Michigan.

Another round of powerful storms barreled across parts of the South and Ohio Valley on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down two miles south of Cedarville,Greene County, Ohio.

Raging wildfires fueled by high winds, record heat and very low humidity would flare up across SanDiego County.

The Bernardo Fire in North County forced the evacuation of more than 20,000 residents andthreatened structures Wednesday night. In Carlsbad, another wildfire would claim several homesand commercial structures causing millions of dollars in damages.

The fires have been able to spread quickly thanks to persistent and very dry winds. Gusts peaked ashigh as 50 mph on Wednesday

Another wildfire would ignite near Camp Pendleton forcing the evacuation of military housing andwould rage to more than 6,000 acres by Thursday.

The Cocos decorative rain barrels Fire in San Marcos,California, would consume several structures andcontinued to blaze into Friday afternoon, with only 10percent of the fire contained.

Severe flooding would also occur in much of rain barrels the East Thursday due to another round ofstorms pushing across the mid-Atlantic in the Carolinas to parts of the Ohio Valley.

During the storms, a tornado was reported in Miami at the Miami International Airport Thursdayafternoon. Later in the evening, another tornado touched down in Durham, North Carolina.

The risk for flooding will continue into Friday evening and into the weekend.

The downpours pushed small streams out of their banks and will lead to flooding of the PotomacRiver and others in the mid-Atlantic this weekend.

http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2014/05/16/this-week-in-review-california-fires-claim-15-million-in-damage-as-rain-snow/