BROOKVILLE, Ohio • A swarm of tornadoes so tightly packed that one may have crossed the path carved by another tore across Indiana and Ohio overnight, smashing homes, blowing out windows and ending the school year early for some students because of damage to buildings. One person was killed and at least 130 were injured.

The storms were among 55 twisters that forecasters said may have touched down Monday across eight states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado. The past couple of weeks have seen unusually high tornado activity in the U.S., with no immediate end to the pattern in sight.

The winds peeled away roofs — leaving homes looking like giant dollhouses — knocked houses off their foundations, toppled trees, brought down power lines and churned up so much debris that it was visible on radar. Highway crews had to use snowplows to clear an Ohio interstate. Some of the heaviest damage was reported just outside Dayton, Ohio.

“I just got down on all fours and covered my head with my hands,” said Francis Dutmers, who with his wife headed for the basement of their home in Vandalia, about 10 miles outside Dayton, when the storm hit with a “very loud roar” Monday night.

The winds blew out windows around his house, filled rooms with debris and took down most of his trees.

In Celina, Ohio, 82-year-old Melvin Dale Hanna was killed when a parked car was blown into his house, Mayor Jeffrey Hazel said Tuesday.

“There’s areas that truly look like a war zone,” he said.

Of the injured, more than two dozen were admitted to hospitals.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in three hard-hit counties, allowing the state to suspend normal purchasing procedures and quickly provide supplies like water and generators.

Reports posted online by the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center showed that 14 suspected tornadoes touched down in Indiana, 12 in Colorado and nine in Ohio. Seven were reported in Iowa, five in Nebraska, four in Illinois and three in Minnesota, with one in Idaho.

Monday marked the record-tying 11th straight day with at least eight tornadoes in the U.S., said Patrick Marsh, a Storm Prediction Center meteorologist. The last such stretch was in 1980.

“We’re getting big counts on a lot of these days, and that is certainly unusual,” Marsh said.

Thunderstorms dropped hail as large as tennis balls in Colorado, and dozens of drivers in Nebraska pulled off I-80 with broken windshields.

Erica Bohannon shows her destroyed apartment Tuesday in Trotwood, Ohio, after a tornado storm system passed through the area the night before, tearing her roof off while she huddled with her son and dog in her closet.

the associated press