At least 42 people have died over the past three days as tornadoes, dust storms and other severe weather events wreaked havoc across eight states in the U.S. Midwest and South, according to reports from local authorities in these states.

The U.S. National Weather Service received about 80 tornado reports between Friday and Sunday and dozens of them have been confirmed, including an EF-4 tornado with wind speeds reaching 190 miles per hour in Arkansas.

In the past three days, Missouri reported 12 storm-related fatalities; Kansas recorded eight, who were killed in a 50-vehicle crash due to a massive dust storm; and Mississippi reported six.

Multiple deaths due to tornadoes, destructive gusts, dust storms, storm-related wildfires and heavy rainfall were also reported in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, and North Carolina.

Footages circulating on social media and eyewitness accounts illustrate the immense destruction caused by the storms. Hundreds of homes and buildings were damaged while tens of thousands of households and businesses were left without power after storms battered their communities.

In Alabama, a school bus was hurled onto a middle school roof and a mobile home were ripped from its foundations and smashed to the ground.

In North Carolina, a fallen tree crashed into a home on Sunday, killing two children.

The storm system weakened on Monday and is moving eastward. However, the National Weather Service warned that heavy rainfall poses a flooding threat for parts of the East Coast while the central U.S. faces extremely dry conditions, raising wildfire risks.