>> reporter: severe storms almost everywhere you look. let's start with scranton, pennsylvania, blinding rains and damaging winds blew through that town. then outside elmira, new york, the first images coming in from a tornado that ripped roofs from homes and trapped people in their cars. there was pounding hail in cincinnati. angry skies and incredible lightning around the great lakes. it has been a wild week. the nation has had more than 700 reports of damaging wind since monday alone. these images from topeka, kansas, power lines slapped by violent winds. >> all of a sudden it poured. the wind come up in just a second. >> reporter: the severe storms are being fed in part by the extreme heat. the nation still plastered with heat warnings and advisories. it's been so hot that cooling ponds outside nuclear plants like this one, near chicago, are either getting too warm or the water is falling too low for the