Dozens killed after violent tornadoes, dust storms hit multiple U.S. states

Tornadoes killed at least 32 people across several states in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast on Saturday night, part of a monster storm strong enough to topple tractor-trailers and wipe out hundreds of buildings.

Twenty-six tornadoes were reported but not confirmed to have touched down late on Friday night and into Saturday as a low-pressure system drove powerful thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri, said David Roth, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Weather Service.

The number of fatalities increased after the Kansas Highway Patrol reported eight people died in a highway pileup caused by a dust storm in Sherman County Friday. At least 50 vehicles were involved.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves posted on X that six deaths had been reported in the state – one in Covington County, two in Jeff Davis County and three in Walthall County. According to preliminary assessments, 29 people were injured statewide and 21 counties sustained storm damage, Reeves said.

Missouri reported 12 fatalities spanning five counties, more than any other state, the state's highway patrol posted on X.

Officials in Arkansas said three people died in Independence County and 32 others were injured across eight counties as storms passed through the state.

Robbie Myers, the director of emergency management in Missouri's Butler County, told reporters that more than 500 homes, a church and grocery store in the county were destroyed. A mobile home park had been "totally destroyed," he said.

"It was unrecognizable as a home. Just a debris field," said Coroner Jim Akers of Missouri's Butler County, describing the scene that confronted rescuers. "The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls."

Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing people trapped in their homes Friday night found five dead bodies scattered in the debris outside what remained of his aunt's house in hard-hit Wayne County in Missouri.

"It was a very rough deal last night," he said Saturday, surrounded by uprooted trees and splintered homes. "It's really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night."

Henderson said they rescued his aunt from a bedroom that was the only room left standing in her house, taking her out through a window. They also carried out a man who had a broken arm and leg.

On Friday, meanwhile, authorities said three people were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle.

Affected areas home to more than 100 million

The deaths came as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that triggered deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.

Extreme weather conditions were forecast to affect an area home to more than 100 million people. Winds gusting up to 130 km/h were predicted from the Canadian border to Texas, threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and wildfire risk in warmer, drier places to the south.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday. Snow accumulations of about 7.5 to 15 centimetres were expected, with up to 30 centimetres possible.

Winds gusting to 97 km/h were expected to cause whiteout conditions.

Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state. Nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference that some 689 square kilometres had burned in his state.

The State Patrol said winds were so strong that they toppled several tractor-trailers.

Experts said it's not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.

Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiancé, Caleb Barnes, watched a massive tornado from their front porch in Tylertown, Miss., about 800 metres away as it struck an area near Paradise Ranch RV Park.

They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help and recorded a video depicting snapped trees, levelled buildings and overturned vehicles.

"The amount of damage was catastrophic," Dillon said. "It was a large amount of cabins, RVs, campers that were just flipped over — everything was destroyed."

Paradise Ranch reported on Facebook that all its staff and guests were safe and accounted for, but Dillon said the damage extended beyond the ranch itself.

"Homes and everything were destroyed all around it," she said. "Schools and buildings are just completely gone."

Some of the imagery from the extreme weather has gone viral.

Tad Peters and his dad, Richard Peters, had pulled over to fuel up their pickup truck in Rolla, Mo., Friday night when they heard tornado sirens and saw other motorists flee the interstate to park.

"Whoa, is this coming? Oh, it's here. It's here," Tad Peters can be heard saying on a video. "Look at all that debris. Ohhh. My God, we are in a torn ..."

His father then rolled up the truck window. The two were headed to Indiana for a weightlifting competition but decided to turn around and head back home to Norman, Okla., about six hours away, where they encountered wildfires.

Wildfires elsewhere in the Southern Plains threatened to spread rapidly amid warm, dry weather and strong winds in Texas, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.

A blaze in Roberts County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, quickly blew up from about two square kilometres to an estimated 85 square kilometres, the Texas A&M University Forest Service said on X. Crews stopped its advance by Friday evening.

About 90 kilometres to the south, another fire grew to about 10 square kilometres before its advance was halted in the afternoon.