Deaths were reported in Indiana, Arkansas after several tornadoes downed trees and damaged homes, authorities said.
Local authorities said that at least three people died after severe storms hit the American states of Indiana and Arkansas, while several tornadoes struck some areas.
Tornadoes were reported Sunday afternoon in the southern part of Indiana, according to the National Weather Service.
Pictures and footage published by local media showed that falling trees closed roads and damaged homes. A large hail storm was also reported in Indiana and neighboring states, officials said.
Emergency officials from Martin County, Indiana, confirmed one person had died. Emergency Management Director Cameron Wolfe said the victim's injured partner was airlifted to the hospital.
Hurricane damage near us pic.twitter.com/rk6EF8cZfd
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Authorities said the couple lived in a two-story wooden shack that was destroyed. No other details were immediately available.
“The damage is random. It's kind of widespread,” Wolf said in an interview with US news channel PBS, adding that the most affected areas were sparsely populated.
In Arkansas, two people were also killed after a tree fell on a home in Carlisle amid severe storms Sunday night, the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office told a CBS News affiliate. A third person survived.
Meanwhile, officials said about 75 homes were damaged in Johnson County, Indiana — located south of the state capital, Indianapolis — including the cities of Greenwood and Bargersville.
“This is obviously a very dangerous scene for the area,” Bargersville Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser said during a news conference. “We have downed power lines all over that 3-mile area.”
Speaking to the Indianapolis Star, Kimber Olson, 42, said she asked her eight-year-old son to sit in the bathtub. She then went out and photographed what appeared to be two tornado plumes near her home in Bargersville.
“The sound is deafening,” Olson said. “You'll never forget the sound. Your ears are popping in a weird way. You'll get a ring in your ear.”
She added that after the hurricane approached, she went inside, closed all the doors and jumped into the bathtub with her son.
She heard glass exploding while her window shattered.
“In every storm I would be terrified,” she said. “I will watch, very carefully.”
Survey teams are scheduled to visit Martin, Johnson, Davis and Monroe counties on Monday to assess damage, according to the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis.
As of Monday morning, about half a million utility customers faced weather-related power outages in the U.S. Midwest and South, according to energy tracking website PowerOutage.us.
A few days ago, at least one person was killed and about twenty others were injured when a tornado struck central Mississippi.
A dangerous heat wave has helped spawn deadly tornadoes in Texas and Florida, where at least four people have been killed this month in the storms.
A recent study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society indicated that the types of intense storms known to generate tornadoes are expected to increase as temperatures rise due to climate change.
