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No fewer than 14 people were on Saturday killed in Arkansas and Missouri as a series of tornadoes hit the US Midwest and Southeast overnight, raking a path of destruction that was still being assessed.

A meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, David Roth, said that twenty-six tornadoes were reported but not confirmed to have touched down late on Friday night and early on Saturday as a low-pressure system drove powerful thunderstorms across parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri.

“Today there is a high risk for more tornadoes across Alabama and Mississippi. The chance is 30%. That’s pretty significant,” he said.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol and other officials, two of the tornado deaths occurred in southern Missouri in the Bakersfield area of Ozark County, about 270 miles (434 km) southeast of Kansas City, and a third death was reported in Butler County.

The Missouri Highway Patrol said on X without giving details that eight others were killed in the storms.

Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Emergency Management reported on its website, that three other deaths from the overnight storms occurred in Arkansas, adding that there were 29 injuries.

Forecasters said said that as the storms regain strength, the highest possible risk of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms is on Saturday night.

The director of Butler County Emergency Management in Missouri, Robbie Myers, told reporters that more than 500 homes, along with a church and grocery store in the county were destroyed.