A violent storm system powering through a wide swath of the Midwest and South on Wednesday spawned tornadoes and powerful winds that turned homes into splintered wreckage and cars into crumpled shells and killed at least 13 people.
The system, which followed closely behind the one that spawned the massive twister that struck Joplin, Mo., and killed more than 120 people, moved into the Oklahoma City area Tuesday evening as worried commuters rushed home from work.
Several tornadoes touched down in the state's largest city and its suburbs, killing at least eight people and injuring at least 60 others, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.
The storms killed two people in Kansas before moving eastward and killing three others in Arkansas. The system was centered over Missouri and Arkansas and southern Illinois early Wednesday and moving into western parts of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The National Weather Service placed much of Illinois and Indiana under a tornado watch.
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