Powerful storms that stretched from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes have killed at least 24 people, with 14 dead in southern Indiana after a series of fierce tornadoes touched down there.

Tornado watches are ongoing in several states.

In southern Indiana, the 1,900-person town of Marysville was ominously declared, "completely gone" by a member of the police force there.

The nearby town of Henryville has also been heavily damaged. It has a population of 2,000.

The carnage comes just days after 13 were killed in storms across the midwest and Tennessee.