Kansas : At least 13 people have been killed as a string of violent thunderstorms battered middle-America, with several tornadoes touching down in Oklahoma and high winds pounding rural Kansas.
Tuesday's 'supercell' storms came just two days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin, killing at least 122 people and injuring hundreds more, according to authorities.
Supercell thunderstorms are characterised by the presence of a deep, continuously-rotating updraft.
Several tornadoes struck Oklahoma City and its suburbs during rush hour on Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring dozens more, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.
The system, which followed closely behind the one that spawned the massive twister that struck Joplin, Mo., and killed more than 120 people, moved into the Oklahoma City area Tuesday evening as worried commuters rushed home from work.
Several tornadoes touched down in the state’s largest city and its suburbs, killing at least eight people and injuring at least 60 others, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.
The storms killed two people in Kansas before moving eastward and killing three others in Arkansas. The system was centered over Missouri and Arkansas and southern Illinois early Wednesday and moving into western parts of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The National Weather Service placed much of Illinois and Indiana under a tornado watch.
The storms moved into western Arkansas overnight, rendering residents of Denning blind to an approaching tornado once it cut power to the tiny community.
Winery owner Eugene Post, 83, said as he watched from his porch, the lights flickered before the area was plunged into darkness, leaving him only able to listen as the twister approached.
