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Storm systems are sweeping across parts of the US Midwest and South, leaving at least 21 dead, including nine people who were killed in a tornado in south-east Kentucky.
Rescuers were searching for survivors all night, according to the Sheriff’s Office in Laurel County, Kentucky, where structures crumbled and cars were flipped near the town of London.
‘Lives have been changed forever here tonight. This is a time we come together, and we pray for this community,’ London Mayor Randall Weddle told WKYT-TV.
‘I have never personally witnessed what I’ve witnessed here tonight. There’s a lot of devastation.’
An emergency shelter has been set up at a local high school, and donations of food and other necessities are arriving.
But warnings remain in place over much of the region.
Where are tornado warnings in place in the US?
The storms were part of a weather system on Friday that killed seven people in Missouri and also spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin, left several hundred thousand customers without power in the Great Lakes region and brought a punishing heat wave to Texas.
Forecasters say more severe weather could be on the way.
‘Severe thunderstorms producing large to very large hail, damaging gusts and a couple of tornadoes are expected across the southern Plains,’ the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Centre said on its website Saturday.
The risk is especially high for North Texas.
Where have they hit so far?
National Weather Service radar indicated a tornado touched down between 2.30pm and 2.50pm in Clayton, Missouri, in the St. Louis area.
The apparent tornado touched down in the area of Forest Park, home to the St Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World’s Fair and Olympic Games the same year.
St Louis Mayor Cara Spencer confirmed five deaths in her city and said more than 5,000 homes were affected.
The number of people injured was not immediately known.
Barnes-Jewish Hospital received 20 to 30 patients from the storm with some in serious condition and most expected to be discharged by Friday night, according to hospital spokesperson Laura High.
Chicago is also experiencing severe weather.
An apocalyptic ‘wall of dust’ barrelled across the windy city — so vast, it’s visible from space.
Satellite imagery shows the storm swallowing highways and buildings, plunging the city of 2.6 million people into darkness.
It has triggered visibility warnings, halted traffic, and left Chicago residents choking on dust.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a dust storm warning, only the second time in history it has done so.
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