At least 15 people were killed after severe storms spawned tornadoes and high winds across sections of southwestern Missouri, the State Emergency Management Agency said. Thirteen of the dead were killed when a twister struck Racine, northeast of Seneca near the Oklahoma border.

At least seven people were killed as the tornado flattened the northeastern Oklahoma town of Picher, authorities said.

"They're going over the hard-hit area and turning over everything and looking," SEMA spokeswoman Susie Stonner said of emergency workers' search for victims and assessment of damage. "It's hard to do in the dark."

The number of injuries across the area was not immediately available, though The Joplin Globe reported more than 90 people from that region were being treated at hospitals in Joplin.

The tornado in Picher, a depressed and pollution-scarred mining town that many residents had already fled, caused major damage in a 20-block area, said Oklahoma's Emergency Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten.

"I know they are going through the rubble, trying to find people missing," she said. "There are numerous injuries."

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry issued a statement saying a major emergency response was under way. He planned to visit the area on Sunday.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Picher and all of the other Oklahoma communities that have been impacted by the latest wave of severe weather," Henry said.

Television footage showed some destroyed outbuildings and damaged homes west of McAlester and near Haywood. At a glass plant southwest of McAlester, the storm apparently picked up a trailer and slammed it on top of garbage bins.

"These are rural areas that we are in," Pittsburg County Undersheriff Richard Sexton told KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. "These are good people coming together at this time."

In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado collapsed a home and a business, and there were reports of a few people trapped in buildings, said National Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson.

Central Park Elementary School in the northwest Arkansas city of Bentonville had roof and window damage, and damage was also reported at Pine Creek Center School.

The storms remained active into the night as they swept eastward, with watches and warnings abundant across a wide swath of the Plains and South.

Rescuers freed a man trapped in his vehicle in western Tennessee after a tree fell on it during thunderstorms, Memphis firefighters said.

Memphis authorities say they've received reports of power lines and trees down, but there have been no injuries.

Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and another seven were killed in an outbreak May 2. In between was freezing weather, persistent rain and river flooding that damaged residences has slowed farmers in their planting.
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The Associated Press' Murray Evans in Oklahoma City and Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

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Edited news release from National Weather Service:

RACINE, Mo. -- The National Weather Service confirmed the touchdown of a very strong tornado on Saturday in Newton County.

At approximately 5:59 p.m., a tornado crossed the Oklahoma border just north of Iris Road. The tornado moved east-southeast to the intersection of Missouri 43 and Iris road, where it intensified briefly to an EF4 tornado with winds of approximately 170 mph.

Damage included throwing automobiles up to one half mile, destroying businesses and numerous homes. Many of the deaths in Newton County during this event occurred near this intersection.

The tornado grew to one mile in width as it crossed just south of the intersection of Missouri 86 at Highway BB. It continued east-southeast, crossing Highway NN between Iris Road and Jute Road before once again growing to one mile in width as it struck the community of Fredville at Missouri 175 at Jute Road.

The tornado moved toward the intersection of Missouri 59 at U.S.

60, destroying mobile homes and taking roofs off frame homes as it moved through the south side of Granby as an EF1 tornado with 110 mph winds.

The storm took a direct path to Newtonia. Based upon significant damage to roofs and structural damage to most homes in

Newtonia, the storm was rated an EF1 with winds near 100 mph.

The tornado then crossed into Barry County one half mile southeast of the intersection of Mulberry Road at Zebra Road as an EF1 tornado, damaging homes and turkey barns.

It passed through the north side of Purdy with an EF2 rank, snapping power poles and causing significant damage to frame homes and destroying mobile homes. One fatality occurred at Commercial Street at Business Route 37.

The tornado weakened as it tracked east of Purdy, lifting about one mile southeast of the community of McDowell.