8 Dead as U.S. Prepares for Severe Storms

Funnel clouds and twisters swept through Nebraska and Colorado on Monday as several other states in the country's mid-section — including flood-battered Texas — prepared for potentially powerful wind gusts, hail and heavy rain.

The forecast came after a "siege of severe thunderstorms," as The Weather Channel described it, washed out bridges, swamped homes and left at least nine people dead in Texas since Friday.