Massive, tornado-producing storms lash the U.S. Southeast

Lighting strikes from a TVS (tornadic vortex signature) storm in Tuscaloosa, Alabama April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Gene Blevins

TUPELO Miss. (Reuters) - At least 30 people across six states were killed in tornadoes unleashed by a vicious storm system that levelled towns and was threatening to cause more mayhem in heavily populated parts of the U.S. South on Tuesday.

In Arkansas and Mississippi, the hardest hit states, more than 23 people were killed and more than 200 injured over the last three days by tornadoes that reduced homes to splinters, snapped trees like twigs and lifted trucks into the air.