At least 70 dead as tornadoes rip across central and southern US states

Seven central and southern US states were searching for survivors and surveying the devastation Saturday after a series of powerful tornadoes intensified by severe storms ripped across the region, leaving an estimated 70 to 100 people dead.

By early evening, officials had confirmed 29 deaths, including 22 in three Kentucky counties, many of those in a candle factory in Mayfield that had around 110 employees working the night shift when a tornado roared through.

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Kentucky, the state hardest hit when one of four tornadoes, including a massive storm, devastated Mayfield, a small town 134 miles (215 km) north-west of Nashville, Tennessee. A candle factory partially collapsed when the tornado struck on Friday evening.

Images posted on social media showed the deadly but erratic nature of tornadoes, with buildings, vehicles and trees torn apart on one street, then a neighboring street left relatively unscathed.

Other structures that were badly damaged include an Amazon facility in Illinois, where six died, officials said, and a nursing home in Arkansas.

The weather system that passed over the region was intensified when cold air from the Plains met unusually warm air from the south.

Among the missing at the candle factory are Denise Johnson Williams, a 50-year-old mother of four whose family members kept vigil at the site Saturday.

The severity of the storm system forced workers at a National Weather Service office near St Louis to themselves seek shelter as a tornado passed nearby, killing at least one person in building collapses near the towns of Defiance and New Melle.

In Arkansas, a tornado struck a nursing home in Monette, killing one person and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed. In addition, three storm-related deaths were confirmed in Tennessee.

The storms also caused a CSX company fright train to derail in the city of Madisonville in western Kentucky, Reuters reported. Initial reports indicated no injuries.

The National Weather Service is working to determine whether this was a single storm or a series of concurrent storms in the same area, CNN reported. More than 100 tornado warnings were issued across the region, the Weather Channel said.