Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday declared a state of emergency before severe weather hits while 10 other states and five cities in particular brace for svere weather later on Monday.  The National Weather Service is predicting parts of Miss. could experience high winds, heavy rains, flash flooding with possible hail and tornadoes. Some Miss. schools will be closed Tuesday.

“This storm system has the potential to create dangerous conditions, and we are monitoring it closely,” Bryant said. “Residents should not overreact but should make plans now to ensure they are prepared for a variety of conditions, including strong winds and rains and the possibility of hail and tornadoes. Know how to receive emergency information and know where you will go if you need to seek shelter.”

MEMA is warning people in the southern counties to prepare before the storm hits. 

Locations from the Plains into the Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and parts of the South could see severe storms and tornadoes on one or multiple days through at least Wednesday. Flooding rainfall will also be a serious threat, according to the Weather Channel.

For the rest of Monday, the following is predicted:

• Threat area: Severe thunderstorm and tornado outbreak continues in regions illustrated in red within the map above. This includes parts of the Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and the South.

• Hazards: Damaging winds, large hail and multiple tornadoes possible. Some tornadoes could be strong (EF2 or higher rating). Excessive rainfall could trigger flash flooding.

• Maximum TOR:CON: 7 in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.

• Cities: Memphis | Nashville | Jackson, Miss. |Birmingham, Ala. | Louisville, Ky.

Emergency officials and rescue crews are searching for survivors in Arkansas after part of the powerful storm system moved through central and southern United States Sunday, spawning multiple tornadoes that killed at least 16 people.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management confirmed at least 14 people died in Little Rock, Ark., when a twister carved an 80-mile path of destruction through suburbs north of the state capital. Other deaths have occurred in nearby towns that are almost leveled.

Hundreds of Little Rock homeless people live in wooded areas under makeshift shelters. 

The twister shredded cars, trucks and 18-wheelers stuck along Interstate 40 north of Little Rock. 

Becky Naylor, of Mayflower, Ark. said she and her family went to their storm cellar after hearing that tornado debris was falling in nearby Morgan. Naylor, 57, said between 20 and 22 people were in the cellar ”packed like sardines.”

“Everyone is welcome to come into it,” she said. “In fact, people were pulling off the highways and were just running in.”

“Just looking at the damage, this may be one of the strongest that we’ve seen,” Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Monday. “And preliminarily — we haven’t done any records checking — but it looks like this is the largest loss of life that we’ve seen in one tornado incident since I’ve been governor.”

“It turned pitch black,” said Mark Ausbrooks, who was at his parents’ home in Mayflower when the storm arrived. “I ran and got pillows to put over our heads and … all hell broke loose. My parents’ home, it’s gone completely.” 

“I’m just kind of numb,” said Karla Ault, a Vilonia High School volleyball coach. “It’s just shock that you lost everything. You don’t understand everything you have until you realize that all I’ve got now is just what I have on.” 

An Oklahoma county sheriff’s dispatcher reported one person died in Quapaw, near the state’s borders with Kansas and Missouri. Another person died when a tornado hit Keokuk County, Iowa.

Over 31 tornadoes have hit in the violent outbreak since Sunday.

Naylor sais it took men to hold the cellar doors shut while the tornado’s winds tried ripping them open.

“It sounded like a constant rolling, roaring sound,” she said. “Trees were really bending and the light poles were actually shaking and moving. That’s before we shut the door and we’ve only shut the door to the storm cellar two times.”

Climatologists have warned that, due to global warming, we need to expect storms such this one and this past winter’s unprecedented storms. 

“Right now, the main focus is life safety,” said Brandon Morris, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. ”We’re trying to make sure everyone is accounted for.”

The National Weather Service in North Little Rock said it was virtually certain that the Mayflower and Vilonia storm would be rated as the nation’s strongest twister to date this year.

“It has the potential to be EF3 or greater,” said meteorologist Jeff Hood. EF3 storms have winds greater than 136 mph. “Based on some of the footage we’ve seen from Mayflower and where it crossed Interstate 40, things were wrecked in a very significant way.”

Photos: Tornadoes’ ‘Mass Casualties’ ‘Utter, Sheer Devastation,’ ‘Worst Coming’ ‘Take Cover!’

After 150 mph winds and at least 30 tornadoes, with one 800 meters wide, struck central Arkansas, survivors are left in shock, crying, trying to help each other, knowing the death toll of 18 will continue mounting as first responders dig through rubble. Survivors caught in the tragic chaos are attempting to warn each other about new tornadoes springing up that they see but that officials are not warning them about. 

The tornado outbreak has already left a path of over 100 miles of death and destruction unseen since the Yankees left men in their graves in the Civil War era. Residents are being told to be on guard for the worst later today and tomorrow as far away as the Carolinas.

Much of the hit region, including Oklahoma Nebraska Iowa Missouri and Arkansas, is plagued with fracking that has already been a silent killer there. [See: The Fracked Faulkner Cover-up: House Explosions, Suicides, Miscarriages] Lethal chemicals would be leaking into the environment and placing survivors at an even greater risk from chemical exposure and possible explosions.  

Chaos, death, destruction as more tornadoes rip the region apart

An extremely large and violent tornado is moving across central Arkansas, CNN meteorologist says.

A dramatic video shows one family pulled from wreckage. (See here on ABC News)

Powerlines are downed, road blocks are up, phones and Internet access is off, so residents are cut from the rest of the world accept for some cell phones and eyewitness reporters.

“It’s chaos right now,” people are reporting.

“We are witnessing a TORNADO ON THE GROUND just north of Coal Hill, Arkansas!” tweeted a resident an hour ago at 10:54 AM CT along with the photo above. “It is NOT warned as of now! TAKE COVER!”  

The above photo is a house in Veronia, Arkansas, all but destroyed. Vernoica is where U.S. officials have reported  a ’mass casualty’ situation.  The small town, home to about 4,000 people in central Arkansas is left with rescuers searching debris for survivors.

The above photo of Velonia was contributed today by a local there, Kelly Lincicome.

One death was reported near Verlonia in Mayflower, 35 kilometres north-west of state capital Little Rock, Pulaski County.  At least 45 homes were destroyed and a lumberyard was damaged at Mayflower, according to Will Elder, an alderman in the town of 2,300 people.

One tornado passed through the east side of Mayflower (the town shown in the photo above), tearing up trees, downing powerlines, and making it difficult for the emergency services to find stricken areas in the darkness.

“It’s extremely hazardous here right now,” Mr Elder said. “The powerlines are down, roads are blocked, and they will have to proceed with caution.”

A storm spotter in Mayflower reported an 800-metre-wide tornado crossing Interstate 40 about 7:30pm (local time), the National Weather Service said.

Three people were killed in western Pulaski County, according to the sheriff’s department.

Local TV footage has shown houses ripped off their foundations and cars on top of the rubble.

“Tonight, I walked around what was only hours earlier a thriving neighbourhood that is now gone,” said congressman Tim Griffin. ”An entire neighbourhood of 50 or so homes has been destroyed – many homes are completely gone except the foundation, and there is more devastation like this in other parts of Arkansas.”

The  above photo shows overhead aerial view of mass desctruction, courtesy of MBC News. At least 31 tornadoes ripped through the Plains and the South on Sunday, leaving at least 18 people dead.

“Tonight, I walked around what was only hours earlier a thriving neighbourhood that is now gone,” said congressman Tim Griffin said Sunday night.

“An entire neighbourhood of 50 or so homes has been destroyed – many homes are completely gone except the foundation, and there is more devastation like this in other parts of Arkansas.”

Forecasters are warning that the worst may be yet to come.

There has been no report yet about lethal fracking chemicals that would be leaking into the environment, placing survivors at an even greater risk. Dupré has been unable to reach community workers about this.