Tornadoes Hit Midwest and South: 17+ Killed, Millions on High Alert

Over a dozen people have died in severe storms as tornadoes and fires wreak havoc on dozens of states.

At least 11 deaths have been reported in Missouri as deadly tornadoes tore through the Midwest on Friday evening, with three more people losing their lives in Texas to car accidents caused by the severe weather.

Numerous more people are reportedly injured as huge storms flipped cars and destroyed homes, as hurricane-strength winds unleashed severe thunderstorms, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned over 100 wildfires.

The extreme weather conditions are forecasted to affect over 138 million people, with winds gusting upwards of 100mph stretching from the Canadian border down to Texas.

Blizzard-like conditions are set to hit colder northern areas, with devastating wildfires and dust storms being fueled in warmer, drier areas of the south.

On Saturday morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) said it was forecasting 'numerous significant tornadoes, some of which should be long-track and potentially violent,' that will be 'expected this afternoon and evening.'

The most serious tornado threats were to eastern Louisiana and Mississippi, Alabama, and the western parts of the Florida Panhandle and Georgia, the NWS said.

Dust storms caused mayhem on Texas roads, with Sgt. Cindy Barkley of the state’s department of public safety describing the damage as 'the worst I've ever seen.'

Barkley said three people were killed Friday in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo County in the Texas Panhandle, with one pileup involving an estimated 38 cars.

'We couldn’t tell that they were all together until the dust kind of settled,' Barkley said, describing the near-zero visibility conditions.

Over 130 fires were reported in Oklahoma, causing evacuations as authorities said winds were so strong they toppled several tractor-trailers.

Charles Daniel, a truck driver hauling a 48-foot trailer along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma, told the Associated Press the severe weather conditions were 'terrible.'

'There’s a lot of sand and dirt in the air. I’m not pushing it over 55 mph. I’m scared it will blow over if I do,' he said.

Forecasters said the severe storm threat would continue into the weekend with a high chance of tornadoes and damaging winds Saturday in Mississippi and Alabama. Heavy rain could bring flash flooding to some parts of the East Coast on Sunday.

Experts said it is not unusual to see severe weather in March, but 'what is unique about this one is its large size and intensity,' Bill Bunting of the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma told AP.

'And so what that is doing is producing really substantial impacts over a very large area,' he added.

As wildfires sparked up across the nation, Oklahoma Governor Stitt said on Saturday that 293 residences were destroyed in the state by the blazes.

The NWS said at least five tornadoes hit Missouri on Friday, including one in St. Louis that damaged several buildings.

The Storm Prediction Center said fast-moving storms could spawn twisters and hail as large as baseballs, but the greatest threat would come from straight-line winds near or exceeding hurricane force, with gusts of 100 mph possible.

On Saturday, authorities warned 'potentially violent' tornadoes may hit the central Gulf Coast and Deep South, stretching into the Tennessee Valley.

The weekend could also see parts of Mississippi including Jackson and Hattiesburg and areas of Alabama including Birmingham and Tuscaloosa at a high risk.

Severe storms and tornadoes were also possible across eastern Louisiana, western Georgia, central Tennessee and the western Florida Panhandle.

While thunderstorms and tornadoes hammered much of the Midwest, wildfires also raged across the Southern Plains that threatened to spread rapidly amid warm, dry weather and strong winds.

The threat of wildfires forced evacuation orders on Friday for communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.

According to officials, one blaze in Roberts County, Texas quickly spread for less than a square mile to over 32 square miles on Friday afternoon.

High winds also knocked out power to more than 300,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according the website poweroutage.us.