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Tornado kills two in Oklahoma as sheriff reports 'mass casualties'
Six dead as tornado devastates Arkansas town - reports
(35 minutes later)
A powerful storm system rumbled through the central and southern United States on Sunday, spawning several tornadoes, including one that killed two people and another that carved a path of destruction north of Little Rock, Arkansas.
At least six people are dead and dozens of homes destroyed after a tornado ripped through the small town of Vilonia, Arkansas, according to reports.
There were also reports of a "mass casualty situation" in the town of Vilonia, Arkansas, a spokesman for the Faulkner county sheriff's office said but the exact number of casualties was not immediately clear.
Local television station THV 11 said that the local sheriff in Faulkner county had confirmed the fatalities after a powerful storm system wreaked havoc through southern and central United States on Sunday evening.
Two people were killed in Quapaw, Oklahoma, and the town of 900 residents was badly damaged by the storm.
"It's just devastating," sheriff Andy Shock told THV 11 over the phone.
Ottawa county emergency management director Joe Dan Morgan said about half of Quapaw "got extensive damage as well as the fire department". As well as the two deaths, six people were treated for tornado-related injuries.
Shock said the town was facing a "mass casualty situation" and that nearby interstate 40 had been closed in both directions after cars and trucks were overturned.
After hitting Quapaw, the twister continued northward into Kansas, said Morgan.
The storm system passed through Arkansas at around 7.30pm as around a dozen twisters were reported across the gerion.
Cherokee County, Kansas, sheriff's dispatcher Josh Harvey said the tornado that hit Baxter Springs injured several people and caused extensive damage, but that no deaths had been reported. He said first responders were going from house to house checking on the roughly 4,200 residents.
Two people were killed in a tornado in the small Oklahoma town of Quapaw, according to the National Weather Service.
That twister was one of several that struck Sunday in a large swath of the Midwest and South affected by the storm system. Tornadoes also touched down in Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.
A police dispatcher in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, said a search and rescue effort was underway in Quapaw, but could not confirm reports of fatalities.
A large tornado formed outside Little Rock, Arkansas, Sunday night and stayed on the ground as it moved northeastward for at least 30 miles (48 kilometers), carving a destructive path through several suburbs. Although there were no immediate reports of injuries, television footage showed badly damaged buildings and vehicles.
Tornadoes were also reported in parts of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri on Sunday afternoon and evening, causing some damage but no known injuries, according to local officials and the weather service.
Tornado watches were in effect for states as far west as New Mexico and as far east as Tennessee, and the system produced storms that were moving through the region in waves. Watches were also issued for Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana.
The Missouri highway patrol reported a tractor-trailer was blown onto its side on Interstate 70. No one was injured.
