Severe thunderstorms packing tornadoes and softball-sized hail left a path of destruction across six Midwest states, killing 23 people in west Tennessee and at least four others in Missouri and Illinois, officials said.The Sunday storms caused a clothing store to collapse in Illinois, overturned mobile homes in several states, and pelted thousands of concert-goers with rain in downtown Indianapolis. Power was knocked out to at least 300,000 customers in Illinois, Missouri and Indiana.Half a dozen tornadoes and softball-sized hail were reported in northeast Arkansas, where about half of the town of Marmaduke had evacuated because of gas leaks and other concerns, police said. In Tennessee, eight people died near Newbern in Dyer County and seven in neighbouring Gibson County, local emergency officials said.Gibson County emergency officials set up a temporary emergency command post, triage center and morgue in Rutherford, where three people were killed. A family of four were killed in nearby Bradford, Gibson County emergency official Bryan Cathey said. In Missouri, strong winds were blamed for at least three deaths. A 42-year-old man was killed when winds knocked over his mobile home near Circle City, Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner said. A second death was reported in Braggadocio in Pemiscot County, the state emergency management office said, but no details were available. Another man was killed when a tree fell on him in Castlewood State Park near Ballwin in St Louis County, said the police.A state of emergency was declared in the Missouri city of Caruthersville after a tornado caused damage there. High winds caused an Illinois clothing store to collapse in Fairview Heights, St Louis, killing a 54-year-old man, said the police.KRISTIN M HALL,
