Deaths were reported in Indiana, Arkansas after multiple tornadoes downed trees and damaged homes, authorities say.
At least three people have died after severe storms hit the US states of Indiana and Arkansas, local authorities said, as several tornadoes touched down in some areas.
Tornadoes were reported Sunday afternoon in southern Indiana, according to the National Weather Service.
Images and footage from local media showed fallen trees blocking roads and destroying homes. Large hail was also reported in Indiana and nearby states, officials said.
Emergency officials from Martin County, Indiana have confirmed one death. The victim's injured partner was airlifted to the hospital, emergency management director Cameron Wolfe said.
Tornado damage near us pic.twitter.com/rk6EF8cZfd
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The couple lived in a two-story log cabin, which was destroyed, authorities said. Further details were not immediately available.
“The damage is random. It's kind of widespread,” Wolf said in an interview with US news agency PBS. The worst-hit areas were sparsely populated, he said.
In Arkansas, two people were also killed when a tree fell on a home in Carlisle amid severe thunderstorms Sunday night, the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office told the CBS News affiliate. A third person survived.
Meanwhile, about 75 homes were damaged in Johnson County, Indiana – located south of the state capital, Indianapolis – including the cities of Greenwood and Burgersville, officials said.
“Obviously, this is a very dangerous scene for the area,” Burgersville Fire Chief Eric Funkhouse said during a news conference. “We have power lines that are down all over that 3 mile area.”
Speaking to the Indianapolis Star, 42-year-old Kimber Olson said she told her eight-year-old son to sit in the bathtub. She then went outside and filmed what appeared to be two columns of tornadoes near her home in Bargersville.
“The sound is deafening,” Olson said. “You'll never forget the sound. Your ears pop in such a weird way. You get a ring in your ear.'
After the tornado approached, she went inside, closed all the doors and jumped in the bathtub with her son, she said.
She heard the glass explode as her window shattered.
“Every storm I'll be terrified,” he said. “I'll be watching – very, very carefully.”
Survey teams were to visit Martin, Johnson, Daviess and Monroe counties on Monday to assess the damage, according to the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis.
As of Monday morning, about half a million utility customers experienced power outages due to the weather in the Midwest and southern US, according to power tracking website PowerOutage.us.
A few days ago, at least one person was killed and about 20 others were injured when a tornado touched down in central Mississippi.
A dangerous heat wave helped spawn deadly tornadoes in Texas and Florida, where at least four people were killed this month in the storms.
A recent study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society suggested that the types of intense storms known to spawn tornadoes are expected to increase as temperatures rise from climate change.
