A storm in the US spawned tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana – where two deaths were reported – and sparked blizzard-like conditions in the Great Plains.
A young boy, aged around five or six, was found dead in the Pecan Farms area of Keithville, Louisiana, where this home was destroyed on Tuesday after a tornado hit about 10 miles from Shreveport, and his mother’s body was body was found nearby under debris, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s office said early on Wednesday.
Emergency service workers were searching the area but no one else had been reported missing, the sheriff’s office said.
The child’s father reported the pair missing from their home, which Sheriff Steve Prator said was demolished in the storm.
“We couldn’t even find the house that he was describing with the address. Everything was gone,” Mr Prator said.
Five tornadoes were confirmed across north Texas as of Tuesday afternoon based on video and eyewitness reports, but potentially a dozen may have occurred, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, Texas, reported.
Dozens of homes and businesses were damaged by the line of thunderstorms, and several people were hurt in the suburbs and counties stretching north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
In Farmerville, Louisiana at least 20 people were taken to a hospital, some with critical injuries, after a tornado caused major damage to mobile homes and an apartment complex.
Over 1,000 flights in and out of area airports were delayed, and over 100 were cancelled, according to the tracking service FlightAware.
The severe weather threat continued into Wednesday for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma.
