Tornadoes and violent storms struck parts of the South and Midwest on Wednesday, killing at least one person, knocking down power lines and trees, ripping roofs off homes and shooting debris thousands of feet into the air.

A tornado emergency was briefly issued in northeast Arkansas, with the National Weather Service telling residents on social media: “This is a life threatening situation. Seek shelter now.”

Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued in parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Mississippi as storms hit those and other states in the evening. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to daytime heating combining with an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming into the nation’s midsection from the Gulf.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said at least one person was killed Wednesday in southeast Missouri, KFVS-TV reported.

The coming days were also forecast to bring the risk of potentially deadly flash flooding to the South and Midwest as severe thunderstorms blowing eastward become supercharged. The potent storm system will bring “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” each day through Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

Tornadoes touch down, and more could be coming A tornado emergency was briefly declared around Blytheville, Arkansas, Wednesday evening, with debris lofted at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers), according to Chelly Amin, a meteorologist with the weather service. That was the weather service’s highest alert, and rare. It was not immediately clear whether there were any injuries. “It’s definitely going to be a really horrible situation here come sunrise in the morning in those areas, coming out of Arkansas,” Amin said. More than 2 miles (3 kilometers) of Highway 18 in the area was temporarily shut down due to a downed power line. A tornado was also reported on the ground near Harrisburg, Arkansas, in the evening. The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management reported that there was damage in 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind gusts, hail and flash flooding. At least four people were injured and there were no reports of fatalities as of Wednesday evening. In Pilot Grove, Missouri, several structures were damaged, cars flipped over and power poles were snapped, the state emergency management agency said. Minor injuries were reported, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Meanwhile roads were closed because of storm debris and downed utility lines near the town of Potosi, southwest of St. Louis, according to the state transportation department. Authorities in eastern Missouri were trying to determine whether it was a tornado that damaged buildings, overturned vehicles and tore down utility poles, tree limbs and business signs in the morning in and around the city of Nevada.

Another tornado touched down in the northeastern Oklahoma city of Owasso about 6:40 a.m., according to the weather service office in Tulsa. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but the twister heavily damaged the roofs of homes and knocked down power lines, trees, fences and sheds.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in the area of Paducah, Kentucky, took cover during a warning at night.

“We’re all good here at the office, the circulation JUST missed us to the south,” the agency said on social media.

Power was knocked out to nearly 90,000 customers in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. As storms moved through Indiana on Wednesday night, more than 182,000 customers lost power.

News outlets reported part of a warehouse collapsed in Brownsburg, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, temporarily trapping at least one person inside, while the police department told people to not travel through the city. Five semitrucks were blown over on Interstate 65 near Lowell, Indiana, state police reported.

The dangerous weather came nearly two years to the day after an EF-3 tornado struck Little Rock, Arkansas. No one was killed, but there was major destruction to neighborhoods and businesses that are still being rebuilt today.