US: Severe storms claim 17 lives, including children

Storms pounded areas of the Midwest and southeast United States, killing at least 17 people, including children, local officials said.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that further "severe" flash flooding is to be expected in the coming days.

A number of fierce storms stretching from the states of Arkansas to Ohio damaged buildings, flooded roadways and produced dozens of tornadoes over the past week.

Tennessee was hardest hit by extreme weather, with state authorities saying on Saturday that 10 people had died across the western part of the state.

Two people were killed due to floods in Kentucky, according to state Governor Andy Beshear, including a nine-year-old child who was "swept away by floodwaters," as he walked to a bus stop.

Photos showed widespread damage from the storm across several states, with homes torn apart, toppled trees, downed power lines and overturned cars.

"Severe, widespread flash flooding is expected" into Sunday in parts of the central-eastern region, the NWS said, warning that "lives and property are in great danger."

A further two storm-related deaths were recorded in Missouri and one in Indiana, according to local media reports and authorities.

A five-year-old was found dead in a home in Little Rock, Arkansas "in connection to the ongoing severe weather," the state's emergency management agency said in a statement.

"Flooding has reached record levels in many communities," Kentucky's Governor Beshear wrote on social media Saturday, urging residents in the state to "avoid travel, and never drive through water."

More than 100,000 people were without power in Arkansas and Tennessee as of early Sunday, according to tracking website PowerOutage US.

The NWS warned that moderate to severe tornadoes could form in parts of the Tennessee Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday, along with "severe thunderstorms."