Dec 11, 2021: A powerful storm raced across the central US late Friday, unleashing at least 19 tornadoes in five states and causing widespread damage, according to officials.

At least two deaths in Arkansas were attributed to the wave of tornadoes. One person was killed and several injured in Monette, Arkansas, after a tornado struck a nursing home, according to Craighead County Judge Marvin Day.

In Illinois, an Amazon warehouse was damaged in Edwardsville, which is 24 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri.

Tornadoes were reported in Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.

Overall, more than 55 million people nationwide were at risk for severe storms Friday.

By early Saturday, at least 157,000 customers had lost power across six states, according to poweroutage.us.

A second tornado watch was issued Friday evening for portions of Missouri and Illinois. The watch is also in effect until 11 p.m. CST and includes St. Louis, Jefferson City and Springfield in Missouri and Springfield and Quincy in Illinois.

By mid-evening Friday, five tornado watches stretched from northeastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma to central Tennessee and Kentucky. One of the newest watches includes Nashville and Louisville, Kentucky, and was in effect until 2 a.m. Central standard time.

The storms in Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas were among several places in the Midwest that reported tornadoes spotted or on the ground.

The storms caused additional damage as they tracked through Tennessee and into Kentuky. Several buildings collapsed in the southwestern Kentucky community of Mayfield, said Sarah Burgess, a trooper with the Kentucky State Police in Mayfield.

She said several people were trapped inside a damaged candle factory in Mayfield and that a shift was ongoing when the storm hit.

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