Thursday, two Atlanta-area women were killed when a tree fell on a truck; a 19-year-old man was killed while clearing debris from a driveway in Georgia; more than 200,000 customers in Georgia lost power; 65,000 lost power in Eastern New York, and around 200 people were forced from their homes when intense thunderstorms hit central Vermont.

"It looked like the river was right there on my porch," Darlene Colby, 47, told the Associated Press. She was woken up by police around 1 a.m. and had to spend the rest of her night at a shelter with her 25-year old son in Vermont.

All of this destruction happened in just one day, just as disasters, nationwide, have been recently causing intense damage in 24-hours and less. This year, more than 500 people have been killed by tornados in 2011, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists are saying that this year’s atmospheric La Nina pressure measurements have been the strongest since 1917.

A high amount of thunderstorms and tornados are expected because La Nina, which keeps warm and cool air separated from the North and South respectively, pushes the two-costal fronts together.

Today, a dozen more U.S. states are bracing for more extreme weather. Warnings of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms have been issued for vast areas extending from Texas to Ohio.

"Everybody's working as fast and furious as possible. This is just a wild ride," says Beverly Poole, a chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service.

 Let’s hope the worst is not yet to come. 

(Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)