ATLANTA — A violent weather system lashed the Midwest and South with tornadoes on Sunday, killing at least nine people, according to some reports, and leaving vast areas of destruction. Forecasters warned that additional severe storms were likely on Monday.
In Arkansas, the National Weather Service reported late Sunday that one tornado had “caused extensive destruction, possibly to multiple towns” just north of Little Rock.
Local television stations and social media websites showed mangled trees and splintered houses, and a segment of Interstate 40 near Mayflower was closed. Entergy Arkansas reported more than 15,000 customers without electricity late Sunday.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, in a situation updateposted late on Sunday, said that counties had reported eight fatalities statewide.
In a telephone interview early Monday, Lt. Carl Minden of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department said that three of those deaths were in his county, and all of them were at the same address.
The Emergency Management report listed four deaths in Faulkner County, and a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, Bill Sadler, said late Sunday night that the authorities knew of “significant property damage” there.
Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said in a telephone interview late on Sunday that state officials had confirmed one fatality in White County and that they were tracking reports of deaths elsewhere. Mr. DeCample, who said the governor was planning to visit the damaged areas on Monday, also said there were “widespread injuries.”
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