Tornado Death Toll at 38

In Missouri, at least 11 people were confirmed dead, two in the collapse of a National Guard Armory where they sought shelter in Pierce City. Eight people remained missing.

Nearly the entire two-street business district in Pierce City, a southwest Missouri town of about 1,400, was flattened and as many as 100 homes were damaged or destroyed.

"People are walking around in shock more of less," said Chamber of Commerce President Tom Major. "Our only grocery is just leveled and all our old buildings, the fronts are gone, the roofs are gone. ... It's just trees everywhere, just poles down, just devastation."

Debris, bricks, broken glass, splintered wood and uprooted trees were all that remained in historic Stockton, Mo., in Cedar County, where virtually the entire town of 2,000 was wiped out. All five of Stockton's public schools were damaged.

Widespread damage was reported in 17 Missouri counties and the state emergency management agency opened 15 shelters. National Guard troops were assisting in recovery efforts and helping the Highway Patrol and the state's Department of Transportation clear roads.

Holden toured hard-hit counties in southwest Missouri Sunday night and called the damage the worst he had seen from a tornado in years. "State government will be working with federal officials and we'll get everything that we need to give help," said Holden.

Spring storms collided with a moisture-laden Midwest warm front Sunday afternoon producing funnel clouds and 1-inch hail in Nebraska. Swarms of tornadoes slammed into Missouri and Kansas, where 25 people died, and continued moving east into Tennessee, where 13 people died, and Arkansas.

Supercells spawned scores of tornadoes by 6 p.m. Sunday, including a massive twister that cut a swath of destruction through Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and crossed the Missouri River into Platte and Clay counties in Missouri. A strong tornado spotted near Kansas City International Airport remained on the ground more than 30 minutes.

"It was probably a quarter to a half-mile wide, debris in it, coming up over the hill from Riverside. We had probably a minute, a minute an half, to get undercover. And we did, or we wouldn't be here right now," Steve Blankenship, a homeowner, told KCTV.

More than 100 homes were damaged or destroyed. Kansas City Power & Light Co. crews worked to restore electrical power to more than 33,000 customers throughout the Kansas City area.

The National Weather Service had issued tornado watches early Sunday morning perhaps helping keep down the number of fatalities and injuries.

"It's Midwest weather at its worst," a National Weather Service meteorologist told the Kansas City Star. The weather service said the storm front produced as many as 84 twisters from South Dakota to Tennessee.

Tornado warnings were issued early Monday for northern Wright County and northeastern Webster County in Missouri, eastern Arkansas, northern Alabama, northern Mississippi, and west and Middle Tennessee. Twisters were sighted in eastern Arkansas.

The tornadoes were the worst to hit Kansas and Missouri since the Ruskin Heights tornado killed 44 people, injured 531, and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes south of Kansas City on May 20, 1957.

Mayor Charles Farmer said there were at least 11 confirmed dead in Jackson, in eastern Tennessee. Kurt Pickering, spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, said there were two more deaths in Cannon County in central Tennessee southeast of Nashville, bringing the state total to 13.

"There were at least two dozen people injured but we have a feeling it will go way higher than that," Pickering said. "We don't have a handle on how many there were in Madison County (Jackson)."

Farmer said none of the fatalities was at the city's law enforcement center, but at least two housing complexes were hit.

"We're still searching and trying to find the extent of the injuries and the number of confirmed fatalities," Farmer said.

He said the entire city of about 50,000 was without water.

Pickering said at its worst, 3,500 people were without power, but it was being restored.

"We're approaching 200 homes that were damaged or destroyed and 25-30 public occupancy buildings, such as businesses and churches," Pickering said.

The National Weather Service said the tornado roared over a 65-mile path across west Tennessee, hitting Jackson at 11:35 p.m. CDT Sunday.

Tornado warnings were issued for dozens of counties in Tennessee. The storm that spawned the tornado also produced straight-line winds of 100 mph, hail the size of golf balls and heavy rain.

Pickering said there were no solid reports of tornadoes during the day Monday, but two tornado warnings were issued.