At least 12 fatalities have been reported in Missouri, according to the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. The deaths come as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.

At least three people have died as a powerful system of storms sweeps across a wide swathe of the central and southern of the United States, with another three killed in vehicle crashes as blinding winds whipped through Texas and Oklahoma.

About 47 million people faced an enhanced to moderate severe storm threat from Madison, Wisconsin, to Birmingham, Alabama.

In Oklahoma alone, more than 150 blazes were burning, which have destroyed almost 300 structures and killed at least one person.

Several wildfires have burned across Oklahoma destroying several homes and buildings, including the farmhouse of that state's Gov. Kevin Stitt.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center warned of "near historic" fire conditions in the Plains.