At least 12 fatalities have been reported in Missouri, according to the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. The deaths come as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.

A powerful system of storms is sweeping across the Midwest and South, raising tornado warnings. In Texas, wildfires erupted and high winds caused three fatal crashes, officials said.

The threat of violent tornadoes in parts of the U.S. proved deadly as well as destructive as whipping winds moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, with at least six people killed and scores of homes decimated.

A severe weather system spawned intense, long-duration tornadoes that struck parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri, leaving some communities in tatters.