Spring storms kill 11 in southern states of US

The amateur footage shows a tornado as it splits into three funnels in Crittenden County, Arkansas

Severe spring storms including tornados have left 11 people dead and destroyed school buildings and homes in southern states of the US.

They whipped through Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama, where one death was confirmed on Friday night.

In Texas, winds fuelled wildfires which killed a firefighter and forced hundreds of evacuations.

In Mississippi, a state of emergency was declared for 14 counties and strong winds felled trees in Georgia.

In the small town of Tushka, Oklahoma, two elderly sisters were killed and at least 25 people injured, while five school buildings were destroyed.

The other seven deaths were reported in Arkansas

In Garland County, lightning knocked a tree into a house, killing a man and his baby daughter

A six-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree in Bald Knob

In rural St Francis County, strong storm winds flipped over a mobile home, killing a woman inside it and injuring her husband

A mother and her eight-year-old son were killed in Little Rock when a tree fell on a home and, outside the city, a tree fell on a vehicle, killing a man inside

As the storm howled through Crystal Springs, Arkansas, Eden Davis woke up, grabbed her young child and sat on the edge of the bed waiting to pull a mattress over both of them to shield the pair from flying debris, AP reports.

"I've never been so nervous about a storm," she said.

"I was asleep, but my fiance called me and told me to wake up and that I needed to watch the news because the weather was getting real bad."

While several tornados were reported, much of the damage in the south was attributed to straight-line winds - sudden, violent downbursts that struck with hurricane force in the middle of the night.