A severe weather system spawned intense, long-duration tornadoes that struck parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri, leaving some communities in tatters.
The storms that killed at least 21 people across Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri on Friday and Saturday continued to pummel a vast section of the South, leveling homes, taking down power lines and turning communities into debris fields.
Before the intense and long-lasting tornadoes arrived, forecasters said that their level of threat was typically experienced only once or twice in a lifetime.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 12 fatalities in the southern and eastern counties of the state as of Saturday evening.
In Arkansas, three people were killed in Independence County, and 32 others were injured across the state, according to the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management.
Six people died in Southern Mississippi and 29 others were injured across the state, Gov. Tate Reeves said on social media.
Locations of tornado sightings or damage reported since Friday morning.
