Some 50 people are "likely" to have been killed in a devastating outbreak of tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky and other US states late Friday and early Saturday, the Washington Post quoted Kentucky governor Andy Beshear as saying.
The Post quoted Beshear as saying in an interview with local TV station WLKY that the number of dead could be "significantly north of that".
"The reports are really heartbreaking," the Post quoted him as saying. It added that a spokeswoman for the state's emergency management service said that rescue officials had not confirmed figures for deaths or injuries as of early Saturday.
In Tennessee, the severe weather killed at least three people, the Post quoted Dean Flener, spokesman for the state's Emergency Management Agency, as saying.
At least one person was killed and five were injured when a tornado shredded the roof of a nursing home in Monette in northern Arkansas, the Post quoted local officials as saying.
In Illinois, authorities said many people were trapped after a roof partially collapsed at an Amazon.com warehouse near St Louis late on Friday, after tornadoes and strong storms blew through the area.
Beshear, who declared a state of emergency in his state, was quoted as saying the damage would be "some of the worst ... we’ve seen in a long time".
