A tornado outbreak that started in the Mississippi River Valley Friday night continued on Saturday.
The severe weather left 14 people dead, including 11 in Missouri and three in Arkansas, officials reported.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that six of the deaths in Missouri were in Wayne County.
Officials reported three deaths in Independence County, Arkansas.
The outbreak began on Friday as the National Weather Service had nearly two dozen reports of tornadoes in the Mississippi Valley. Crews will begin assessing damage on Saturday to confirm whether tornadoes caused the damage.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that a likely tornado struck Rolla, where numerous buildings were destroyed.
Tornadoes were also reported in Carroll County, Mississippi, where several buildings were destroyed, and a tractor-trailer was overturned.
Storms were expected to be even more intense on Saturday. The Storm Prediction Center issued a rare "high risk" of severe weather for parts of the South, including Birmingham, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi earlier in the day. The "high risk" designation is generally given to one or two storm systems a year.
"A prolific severe weather event is expected today, with multiple rounds of supercells likely through the afternoon hours. Given the parameter space, tornadoes associated with these supercells will have the capacity to be violent and long-lived," the National Weather Service said Saturday morning.
As of the mid-Saturday evening, 18 unconfirmed tornadoes were reported in the South throughout the day.
The storms are being fueled by unseasonably warm and humid weather ahead of a cold front. Other dynamics are helping to combine for what could be one of the most violent tornado outbreaks of 2025.
