Tornados have swept through Texas leaving substantial damage and at least seven people dead, in the latest in a succession of freakish winter weather events across the US.
Tumultuous weather in the south-east left 18 people dead over the Christmas holiday period.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Anthony Bain in Fort Worth said several tornadoes touched down in the Dallas area, and the full extent of damage was not yet known.
Local TV showed homes with roofs blown away, vehicles mangled or turned upside down, a severely damaged church, fallen trees and debris strewn across neighbourhoods.
The damage stretched over a 40-mile area from south of Dallas to north-east of the city.
Joe Harn, police spokesman for Garland, about 20 miles north-east of Dallas, said four people were killed in vehicle accidents during the massive storm, but it was unclear if they were all in the same vehicle.
“I do know that they are going house to house and going through the apartments looking for people,” he said.
Three more people were confirmed dead from the storms in Collin County, about 45 miles north-east of Dallas.
Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Havey gave no other details of the deaths.
In the town of Rowlett near Garland, police spokesman Detective Cruz Hernandez said several people were injured although the exact number was not immediately clear.
Two families were barricaded in their homes and first responders were trying to get them out.
The twisters – accompanied by torrential rain, wind and some hail – were part of a weather system that could produce major flooding from north Texas through eastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, western Arkansas and parts of Missouri.
Passengers waiting for flights at Love Field, a major Dallas airport, were moved away from windows during the storm. Flights were temporarily halted from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
On the other side of Texas, a snowstorm accompanied by plunging temperatures was expected to leave up to 16ins of snow in West Texas and much of New Mexico.
NWS meteorologist Brendon Rubin-Oster warned: “It’s going to be quite dangerous for anyone exposed to these elements.”
In the south-east, two more deaths linked to weather were reported on Saturday in Mississippi, bringing the state’s death toll from severe weather over Christmas to 10. Late on Saturday, one death was reported in Alabama.
Flash flooding closed roads across Alabama and trapped motorists in rapidly rising waters.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said 56 injuries were reported, and preliminary damage estimates show 241 homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
The flooding is the result of heavy downpours that have thrashed the south-eastern US since Wednesday, bringing record rainfalls in some areas.
Four inches of rain walloped the city of Mobile, Alabama, on Wednesday – smashing the previous record of 2.2ins set in 1990.
Six people were killed in Tennessee, including three who were found in a car submerged in a creek, according to the Columbia Police Department.
One person died in Arkansas, and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed.
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