Tornadoes and dust storms leave at least 34 dead in southern US

At least 34 people have died in the US after violent tornadoes tore through several south-eastern states, flipping cars and flattening homes.

In Kansas, a dust storm on Friday afternoon caused a crash with more than 50 vehicles, killing at least eight people. Texas saw a similar mass pile-up.

A state of emergency has been declared in several states, including Arkansas, Georgia and Oklahoma, where more than 100 wildfires were raging.

A third day of severe weather was forecast for Sunday, with flash flooding and more tornado warnings issued across the region. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of "intense to violent" tornadoes, describing the situation as "particularly dangerous".

"Get to the sturdiest structure you have access to and remain in place until the storms pass," the NWS told residents in Alabama on Saturday night, when multiple tornado warnings were issued.

At least 250,000 properties across the US were without power on Sunday morning, according to tracker PowerOutage.

In Missouri, where at least 12 people died, Governor Mike Kehoe said the state had been "devastated by severe storms... leaving homes destroyed and lives lost".

Initial reports showed 19 tornadoes had struck 25 counties in the state, its emergency management agency said.

A home belonging to one of those killed was torn apart.

"It was unrecognisable as a home. Just a debris field," Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County told the BBC's US partner, CBS News.

"The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls."

Alicia Wilson, who was evacuated from her Missouri home, told local TV station KSDK: "It was the scariest thing I've ever been through - it was so fast, our ears were all about to burst."

A woman in Mississippi described how terrified her daughter was.

"All I could hear was my six year old screaming that she didn't want to die - you don't want to hear that coming out of your baby's mouth," Jericho McCoy said.

In Texas, a dust storm caused a pile-up of about 38 cars, which killed at least four people, local officials told AFP.

"It's the worst I've ever seen," Sgt Cindy Barkley, of the state's public safety department, told reporters.

"We couldn't tell that they were all together until the dust kind of settled."

The destructive storms fuelled many wildfires in several central states, including Oklahoma, where more than 130 fires were reported on Friday, the state's department of emergency management said.

As of Saturday, it said there had been 112 fire-related injuries reported by hospitals in the state.

Governor Kevin Stitt, who visited his own ranch to find he had "lost everything to the fires", said the damage in the state was unbelievable.

"Oklahomans, we are in this together and we will build back stronger," he said.

Tornadoes form when moist, warm air rises, mixing with cold air above to generate thunderclouds. Winds blowing from different directions cause the air to rotate, creating a vortex of air that moves upwards.

Several states, including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas, lie within so-called Tornado Alley - a path frequently hit by the weather phenomenon, as the geography is ideal for their formation.

Peak tornado season in the region is from May to June - but meteorologists caution that they can occur at any time of year.

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