Greater Cincinnati was thrashed by severe weather Wednesday night and into the early morning hours Thursday, but emerged largely unscathed compared with the deadly storms that swept across the central U.S. causing widespread damage.

The storms locally toppled trees, damaged homes and knocked out power for tens of thousands of the region’s Duke Energy customers, many of whom awoke in the dark Thursday morning.

Even after severe storms this week and last weekend put residents on high alert, the potential for inclement weather isn’t over just yet.

The National Weather Service says the Cincinnati area is due for another round of heavy rain and thunderstorms Thursday evening and Friday morning, accompanied by a risk of flooding and damaging winds.

The weather service said a flood watch will remain in place for the region until at least Sunday morning. Multiple bouts of rain will occur into the weekend, with the heaviest rain expected Saturday into Saturday night.

Eastward-moving thunderstorms arrived in the Cincinnati area late Wednesday and the weather service issued a tornado watch for virtually all of Greater Cincinnati.

As of noon Thursday, the weather service confirmed a tornado touched down in northern Brown County and traveled into southeast Clinton County.

A radar-confirmed tornado hit in northeastern Clinton County before moving into Fayette County. Radar-confirmed tornadoes are not official until the NWS surveys damage on the scene.

Highland County dispatchers confirm the Lynchburg area has “a lot of damage,” according to Enquirer media partner Fox19. They said around 2:30 a.m. they were “slammed” with calls requesting emergency service or reporting storm damage, including wires and trees down.

Strong winds downed power lines and trees across Greater Cincinnati, causing widespread power outages and, in some cases, significant property damage.

In Loveland, a city of more than 13,000 residents roughly 25 miles northeast of downtown Cincinnati, the storm sent a large tree crashing into a home on Cedar Drive, splitting the residence in two.

A large tree also fell into a house on Division Street in Erlanger, Kentucky, while three people were still inside. Two of the people inside the home escaped on their own, but the third person was trapped inside, officials said. First responders were able to free the trapped individual.

Duke Energy crews were out Thursday morning to inspect and work on the damaged powerlines, but some school districts were forced to close amid power outages. Others went on a two-hour delay.

Nearly 48,000 Duke customers remained without power early Thursday, although that number had dropped to more than 32,000 late in the morning.

Severe storms this past weekend brought four tornadoes to Ohio.

Two of the tornadoes — both rated as an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale — touched down in Butler County. One of the tornadoes landed just north of New Miami, while the other tornado touched down near West Chester before crossing eastbound into Warren County and dissipating just west of Morrow County, according to the NWS.

The third tornado touched down near the city of Corwin in Warren County. It was also rated as an EF0, which is the weakest rating for a tornado on the EF Scale with winds between 65 and 85 mph.

The fourth tornado, confirmed by NWS Monday night, was rated as an EF1 that touched down in Fayette County in Jeffersonville, also in southwest Ohio. The twister reached a peak wind gust of 90 miles per hour, and it traveled for nearly four miles over about four minutes before dissipating, the NWS said. An EF1 tornado can reach wind gust speeds between 86 and 110 mph.

Deadly storms caused widespread damage across the central U.S. and were still bearing down on much of the country Thursday, leaving hundreds of thousands without power and putting millions under tornado watches.

Dozens of tornadoes were reported across Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri on Wednesday and overnight, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. Images show widespread damage, with roofs collapsed, vehicles overturned and trees snapped and uprooted.

Storm-related deaths were reported in Missouri and in Tennessee, where the state highway patrol said several strike teams are in areas impacted by tornadoes that swept across the state Wednesday night and early Thursday.

The state agency released video on social media of troopers responding to tornado reports, searching through the wreckage of a flattened home near Selmer, a small city just north of Mississippi, which took a direct hit.

Over 30 million people from Texas to Ohio were still at risk Thursday of powerful tornadoes and major flooding, which is only expected to worsen over the coming days as some parts of the country receive upwards of 15 inches of rain.

Friday: Showers and a possible thunderstorm before 8 a.m., then showers between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., with showers and a thunderstorm possible after 2 p.m. High near 67 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 90% and new rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch are possible.

Friday night: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 61 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 80% and new rainfall amounts between a half and three-quarters of an inch are possible.

Saturday: Showers and a possible thunderstorm before 8 a.m., then showers between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., with showers and a thunderstorm possible after 2 p.m. High near 73 degrees. Southwest wind around 11 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. The chance of precipitation is 90% and new rainfall amounts between three-quarters and one inch are possible.

Saturday night: Showers and thunderstorms are possible. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 47 degrees. The chance of precipitation is 100% and new rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches are possible.

Sunday: Showers, mainly before 2 p.m. High near 53. The chance of precipitation is 80%.

Sunday night: A chance of showers before 8 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 35. The chance of precipitation is 30%.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.

Enquirer photojournalists Sam Greene and Liz Dufour contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Greater Cincinnati to get more bad weather after storms thrash region