Dozens of tornadoes struck the central United States on Friday, razing homes, knocking down power lines and injuring at least three people, authorities said.

More than 70 tornadoes were recorded across the country by the National Weather Service (NWS), most of them around Omaha, a transportation hub in Nebraska.

Images from storm chasers posted on social networks showed immense black twisters sweeping across the sky, turning over earth, dust and materials in their path.

In the Omaha suburb of Elkhorn, the storms razed numerous homes, blew off roofs and stripped trees of leaves.

"Emergency personnel continue to check damaged houses and assist any injured citizens," Omaha police posted on social media platform X.

Further south, near the Nebraska state capital of Lincoln, a tornado struck an industrial shed.

The 70 or so people inside when the roof collapsed were evacuated, but three suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Lancaster County authorities said at a news conference.

To the northeast of Lincoln, near Waverly, powerful storm winds toppled a train from its tracks, the officials said.

About 11,000 households were without power in Nebraska, according to tracking site Poweroutage.com.

The NWS, which issued numerous urgent tornado warnings in several central US states on Friday, warned that powerful storms would continue Saturday in the central plains, extending as far south as Texas.

Tornadoes, weather phenomena that are as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are relatively common in the United States, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.

Five dead in China after tornado rips through Guangzhou
Beijing (AFP) April 27, 2024 –

At least five people were killed and 33 injured after a tornado struck the Chinese city of Guangzhou on Saturday, state media reported.

China's official Xinhua news agency said that the tornado hit the Guangdong Province capital, in the country's south, around 3 pm (0700 GMT).

The extreme weather was the latest to hit the country's industrial heartland. Guangdong, China's most populous province, is home to 127 million people and thousands of factories that power the nation's export sector.

Some 141 factories were damaged, though no houses had collapsed, Xinhua reported.

Images published by state media showed dark skies in the middle of the day.

Social media images showed damaged cars and uprooted trees.

Earlier this week, torrential rains in Guangdong caused serious flooding, leaving four dead.

According to state media, it was the worst flooding some parts of the province had seen since the 1950s.

Tornados are not unusual in China.

In September, 10 people were killed after a tornado struck Suqian, Jiangsu Province, in the country's east.

In 2021, two tornadoes struck the country in one day, killing 12, including eight in Wuhan.