Tornadoes, storms wreak havoc in the US: See photos of damage in Missouri, other states

A severe storm making its way across the U.S. this weekend spawned tornadoes in Missouri and resulted in more than a dozen deaths – and continues to threaten the South and East U.S. this weekend.

Nearly 4 million people were under tornado watches Saturday afternoon. Tornado risk will be highest Saturday for most of Mississippi and Alabama, and parts of Louisiana and Georgia including New Orleans and Atlanta, according to AccuWeather.

Severe thunderstorms, coupled with high winds, on Saturday will bring the risk of power outages from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes. Winds may include gusts in excess of 40 mph from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes region and central Gulf Coast Saturday and Saturday night, AccuWeather said.

“AccuWeather meteorologists expect hundreds of reports of downed trees and power lines, as well as the potential for multiple strong tornadoes,” the service said in a forecast. “Some tornadoes could be long-lasting, adding to the danger, especially for those that occur after dark.”

The storm is expected to bring severe thunderstorms to the East Coast on Sunday, with wind gusts of 55-65 mph, flooding and isolated tornadoes, AccuWeather said.

A low pressure system drove strong thunderstorms through parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri late Friday night and early Saturday, resulting in reports of 26 tornadoes, although not all were confirmed to have touched down, David Roth, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, told Reuters.

AccuWeather tallied 23 filtered tornado reports, 253 filtered wind reports (11 significant), and 96 filtered hail reports (3 significant), as of Saturday morning, said AccuWeather meteorologist Mike Youman in a report.

Deadly tornadoes spawned in Missouri

The state of Missouri had up to 19 tornadoes “of varying strengths that impacted 25 counties in the state,” said Gov. Mike Kehoe in a press release. Kehoe had declared a state of emergency on Friday.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol on Saturday attributed 11 fatalities related to storms in the south and southeast parts of the state, the agency said on Facebook.

A tornado in the city of Florissant, a northwest suburb of St. Louis, was reported late Friday and early Saturday. Storms caused “significant damage to homes and property,” Florissant Police Department said in a post on social network X.

The storms are expected to move east throughout the day on Saturday and could hit as far east as the Florida Panhandle and Atlanta by midnight Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Tornado in Indiana causes damage

Another tornado was reported about 4 a.m. Saturday in southwest Indiana about 200 miles east of Florissant, Missouri.

Gibson County including Oakland City, Indiana, had trees down and power lines and poles down, Sheriff Bruce Vanoven said early Saturday in a video posted on Facebook.

Tornado warnings: Millions warned of tornado danger as deadly outbreak roars on in the South