The death toll from a major storm system that has lashed the south-central and eastern US with devastating winds and powerful tornadoes has risen to 22, with dozens of others injured, officials said.
A spokesperson for the emergency management agency in Tennessee, one of the states hardest hit since the storms began on Friday, confirmed seven weather-related fatalities.
That came on top of 15 deaths reported in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama in the south, Indiana and Illinois in the Midwest, and Delaware in the mid-Atlantic.
The storm system was bearing down on the US east coast, with thunderstorms, hail and powerful winds predicted.
The storm had sent multiple tornadoes – some of exceptional size and power – sweeping through Arkansas, where they killed at least five people, the state’s governor…