http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/14/us/severe-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 Storms battering the southern United States put 32 million people from West Virginia to Florida at risk of facing severe weather Tuesday, CNN Meteorologist Indra Petersons reported. Air traffic could be affected as Atlanta, home to the world's busiest airport, is included in the threat, Petersons said. By 1 p.m. ET, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had more than 150 delays Tuesday, according to flightaware.com. The storms are already blamed for two deaths, the first October tornado fatalities in the United States since 2009, CNN Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri reported. Both took place Monday -- one in Alabama and another in Arkansas. Earlier Tuesday, part of the Atlanta area faced a tornado warning. A car is damaged after severe weather passed through Little River County, Arkansas, on Monday. Several inches of rain are pounding large swaths of the Southeast. There were nearly 1,000 lightning strikes in a one-hour period Tuesday morning, Javaheri said. The weather pattern has the Northeast in its sights as well. Some areas could see 3 inches of rain. The expansive storms stretch from Mobile, Alabama, up to Ontario, Canada, Javaheri said. The National Weather Service says there's a chance of severe thunderstorms in parts of eight states, from the Florida Panhandle north to West Virginia. And while there is a threat of tornadoes, "widespread wind damage may be more prevalent," CNN Meteorologist Alexandra Steele said. "Within some of these storms, the winds may gust to 60 to 70 miles per hour."
