At least three people were killed and dozens injured after severe weather and tornadoes swept across parts of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio overnight.
All three confirmed deaths took place in Ohio’s Logan County, which was struck by a tornado on Thursday night.
Dozens of people were also injured in Indiana. Tens of thousands are still without power.
The toll is expected to rise as authorities begin to investigate the scope of the damage.
According to authorities in Logan County – about 70 miles (112km) from state capital Columbus – two of the deaths took place in a trailer park near Indian Lake. The third person is believed to have died at another location.
The county’s coroner, Dr John O’Connor, told the New York Times that all three died from “blunt force trauma”.
Some areas were still unreachable by first responders and police on Friday morning as a result of debris and downed power lines.
Logan County Sheriff Randy Dodds told the Columbus Dispatch newspaper that the number of dead could rise.
“It’s one hell of a mess up there,” Dodds said. “It looks like a war zone.”
To the west in neighbouring Indiana, officials said that at least 38 people were injured in Randolph County, where the town of Winchester was badly damaged and at least one church completely destroyed.
Of the injured, 12 were taken to nearby hospitals.
In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear said that there was some “really significant damage”, particularly to the town of Milton in Trimble Country near Louisville.
As of 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT), more than 33 000 people remained without power across all three states, including approximately 21 000 in Ohio.
In total, at least two tornadoes were reported in India and five in Ohio, according to the Storm Prediction Centre.
The tornadoes formed part of a larger system of storms that hit the central and eastern US on Thursday.
The Storm Prediction Centre has warned that a large swath of the US, including parts of Texas, Georgia and Alabama remain under the heightened threat of tornadoes on Friday. (Reuters)
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