Millions of Americans across the country are on alert for a severe weather outbreak as violent, long-track tornadoes with damaging winds of up to 80 mph and large hail are expected across the Midwest and South with the cross-country storm moving east.

At least 14 people were dead and dozens injured after violent tornadoes swept across the central United States, officials said Saturday.

At least 19 people have died as an outbreak of tornadoes ravished through the South and Midwest early Saturday morning, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

Twelve fatalities were reported in Missouri – the most of any state struck by the storm – from scattered twisters, thunderstorms and large hail that ravaged dozens of communities. “Homes and businesses have been destroyed, entire communities are without power and the road to recovery will not be easy,” Gov. Mike Kehoe said in a statement.

At least three people have died as a powerful system of storms sweeps across a wide swathe of the central and southern of the United States, with another three killed in vehicle crashes as blinding winds whipped through Texas and Oklahoma.

At least 12 fatalities have been reported in Missouri, according to the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. The deaths come as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.

Violent tornadoes and high winds decimated homes, wiped out schools and toppled semitractor-trailers as a monster storm that killed at least 32 people ripped its way across the central and southern U.

Numerous significant tornadoes are expected Saturday afternoon and evening, with the highest risk across several states in the Deep South, forecasters say.