The governor of the US state of Kentucky warned that he suspects that more than 50 people died from the tornado that affected the state during the night. Andy Besher said the number could rise to 100 in "the worst tornado in the history of the state", quoted by the BBC.
He said the death toll was "probably closer to somewhere between 70 and 100, which is devastating".
The tornado has wreaked havoc in several US states, with workers buried in an Amazon warehouse in Illinois.
One person also died and 20 people were buried in a nursing home in Arkansas after it partially collapsed, the Associated Press reported.
Amazon's Edwardsville warehouse in southern Illinois was damaged during a tornado on Friday night, authorities said. It is not yet clear how many people were injured in the collapse of the roof, but local emergency services said of an "incident with mass casualties" on Facebook.
"My prayers are with the people of Edwardsville tonight, and I turned to the mayor to provide all the necessary state resources," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on Twitter.
Amazon assesses the situation and the damage, a company spokesman said in a statement.
A state of emergency has been declared in Kentucky.
Police said the tornado caused "significant damage" in the western part of the state. A train derailed during extreme winds in Hopkins County, Matt Sanderson told WKYT-TV.
The U.S. National Weather Service has issued tornado warnings for areas in states including Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois.
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