Seven dead in severe storms

Atlanta (CNN) -- At least seven people in Oklahoma and Arkansas have died as the result of a powerful line of storms now pushing into the Southeast, authorities said Friday.

The system posed the greatest threat Friday to parts of Alabama and Mississippi, where forecasters warned of possible tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. Forecasters said severe weather was possible Friday afternoon across northern Mississippi and Alabama and into central Tennessee.

The storm tore through parts of the Midwest on Thursday, leaving a trail of downed trees and power lines, scattered cars and crushed homes as it moved east. It killed two people in the southeastern Oklahoma city of Tushka, where authorities say a tornado touched down Thursday night. It also left five dead when trees fell on homes in four separate Arkansas incidents, authorities said.

Nearly 36,000 people were without power Friday morning in Arkansas, half of them in Pulaski County, the state Department of Emergency Management reported.

The five deaths reported in Arkansas came from trees falling on homes, agency spokesman Tommy Jackson said.

The victims included a 24-year-old man and an 18-month-old girl who died when a tree fell on their trailer while they were sleeping in Garland County, the sheriff's office there said.

"It was terrifying, seeing that this could happen to anybody," Zach Kelly told CNN affiliate KTHV. "There are so many trees around this neighborhood and it was just a scary thought walking over here that this could happen to any family here, including mine."

In Bald Knob, Arkansas, a 6-year-old boy died when a tree fell on his house, KTHV reported. A man died in Scott, Arkansas when a tree fell into his recreational vehicle, crushing him, according to police. The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management also reported a death from a falling tree in St. Francis County.

In Oklahoma, in addition to the two deaths, the storm caused 15 injuries and extensive property damage in the southeastern town of Tushka, about 125 miles south of Tulsa. The state Department of Emergency Management said a "relatively large" tornado sliced through the area around Tushka.

"There's a tremendous amount of property damage," said Capt. Jeff Sewell with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. "Cars have been blown together. A lot of electric wires are down all over the place. Several houses were totally destroyed."

In Oklahoma, the weather service received reports from media and trained storm spotters who witnessed the tornado in Tushka. Sewell said the tornado stayed on the ground for seven miles.

The tornado was reported about three miles north of Caney, Oklahoma, near the towns of Tushka and Atoka, said Lamont Bain with the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.

Damage was also reported in the city of Hominy; in the Allen and Stonewall areas of Pontotoc County; and in the Madill area, the state Department of Emergency Management said.

South of Stonewall, a trailer had its roof blown off and three other homes also lost their roofs, the department said. A tree fell on a car, and softball-sized hail was reported near Hickory.

Severe weather could be in store for much of the Midwest and Southeast this weekend.

Eastern Missouri, central and southern Illinois, southwest Indiana and parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and the Florida panhandle could also see severe weather through early Saturday as moist air spreading out from the Gulf collides with a cold front pushing east from the Plains, the weather service said.

The forecast from the National Weather Service says the primary threat outside of Mississippi and Alabama will be damaging thunderstorm winds, but there also will be the possibility of isolated tornadoes.