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(NEW YORK) — At least three people are dead in Oklahoma after a string of tornadoes broke out Wednesday night, officials said.

There have been eight confirmed tornadoes in the state, according to the National Weather Service.

McClain County Emergency Management confirmed that a “large and extremely dangerous tornado” was over Cole, Oklahoma, Wednesday night. The McClain County Sheriff’s Office confirmed at least two deaths and said there were multiple injuries.

Overall, there were at least 15 reported tornadoes across three states: Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa. In addition, huge hail — some the size of a softball — was reported from Illinois to Texas.

Cole was “hit significantly,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Eric Foster said. There are “power lines down everywhere” and major damage to infrastructure, according to Foster, who said hundreds of first responders are on the scene.

On Wednesday night, the McClain County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook that it was responding to “reported injuries & persons entrapped within their shelters,” and that power lines were down and there were outages. McClain County is just south of Oklahoma City.

Due to storm damage, Oklahoma State Highway 74 to State Highway 76 was closed, according to the McClain County Sheriff’s Office.

Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee reported there was significant damage to its campus, but reported there were no injuries. Students living in three on-campus building were relocated on Wednesday night, according to a tweet.

The university also canceled classes on Thursday and Friday.

The cross country storm is moving east and is producing severe weather outbreak with tornadoes, huge hail and extreme straight line winds. On Thursday, severe weather will stretch east from Texas to Illinois, including major cities such as San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis and Little Rock, Arkansas. The biggest threat will be damaging winds and huge hail.

Severe weather will move into the Southeast over the weekend and will stretch from the Carolinas down to Georgia. Cities in the bull’s-eye will be Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; and near Raleigh, North Carolina. Damaging winds will be the biggest threat Saturday.

The same storm will bring a threat of heavy rain and thunderstorms all the way to Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York City Saturday evening.

Major flooding ongoing in the upper Mississippi river in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin is expected to get worse this weekend. The river is expected to continue to rise though the end of the week and into the weekend, reaching levels not seen in decades.

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(BOWDOIN, Maine) — A 34-year-old man allegedly shot and killed his parents and their two friends at a home in Bowdoin, Maine, days after his release from prison, authorities said.

Around 9:21 a.m. Tuesday, four people were found shot dead at the home: 72-year-old Robert Eger, 62-year-old Patricia Eger and 62-year-old Cynthia Eaton were found inside, while 66-year-old David Eaton was found in the barn, Maine State Police said at a news conference Wednesday.

The Eatons’ son, Joseph Eaton, had been released from the Windham Correctional Facility in Maine on April 14 after serving a sentence for aggravated assault, according to police. His mother picked him up from prison and brought him to Bowdoin to stay with the Egers, who were family friends, police said.

Shortly after the four bodies were found, around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Joseph Eaton allegedly shot three people as they drove south on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, about 25 miles south of Bowdoin, police said.

One of the interstate shooting victims, a 25-year-old woman, is in critical condition, police said. The other two victims, a 51-year-old man and his 29-year-old son, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Joseph Eaton was taken into custody and “confessed to killing his parents and their friends in Bowdoin,” state police said. Joseph Eaton allegedly “believed that the vehicles he had shot on the interstate were police vehicles that were following him.”

He has been charged with four counts of murder, police said.

Joseph Eaton made his first appearance in court on Thursday morning. He spoke briefly, only to say he understood the charges against him, and did not enter a plea.

ABC News’ Darren Reynolds and Ben Stein contributed to this report.

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(BOCA CHICA, Texas) — SpaceX will attempt a second launch of its Starship rocket after the first launch attempt was scrubbed due to a frozen valve in the pressurization system.

The launch will take place at the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas — about 20 miles east of Brownsville — with a 62-minute window opening at 9:28 a.m. ET. A live webcast will begin 45 minutes before liftoff.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 20, 9:46 AM EDT
Starship boosters fail to separate from shuttle, rocket blown up

SpaceX was able to get its Starship rocket off the pad, but all didn’t go as planned.

About three minutes into flight, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX tweeted.

Therefore, SpaceX was forced to abort the mission and blow up the rocket, but the team says it’s more of a “success” than they hoped for.

Apr 20, 9:39 AM EDT
Starship launches into space

Starship launched at 9:33 a.m. ET, just five minutes after the launch window opened, on its inaugural flight.

The shuttle is currently the largest spacecraft in the world at about 393 feet and is expected to eventually carry passengers to the moon and Mars in a similar vein to NASA’s Artemis mission.

Starship is designed to carry up to 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights.

Apr 20, 9:23 AM EDT
What Starship’s journey will look like

For this first flight test, SpaceX said Starship will not attempt a vertical landing of Starship or a catch of the booster.

If successful, Starship and its rocket, which is called Super Heavy, will head up to the skies and 33 Raptor engines will ignite simultaneously. About eight minutes after liftoff, Super Heavy will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, the spacecraft will travel about 150 miles — partially around the Earth — and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after liftoff.

There will be a 62-minute window opening at 9:28 a.m. ET. A live webcast began 45 minutes before liftoff.

Apr 20, 8:45 AM EDT
Starship rocket is being loaded

SpaceX is fueling its Starship rocket — the world’s larger spacecraft — as it attempts a second launch.

The first launch attempt was scrubbed Monday due to a frozen valve in the pressurization system.

“The Starship team is go for prop load; team is keeping an eye on the weather,” SpaceX said in a tweet.

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