At least four were killed overnight on Friday as tornadoes ripped through the central United States.
Indiana Homeland Security spokeswoman Emily Norcross told reporters three deaths were reported in Jefferson County. Additionally the Clark County Sheriff's office reported one person had died in Henryville.
"The reports coming in are not good," U.S. Senator Dan Coats of Indiana told CNN. "The amount of destruction is pretty significant, and so hopefully there won't be any more confirmed fatalities, but I'm concerned that there might be."
CNN aired images of rescue workers in Indiana picking through a splintered house, and residents sifting through the debris. Several large buildings appeared to have their roofs ripped off.
"We've got extensive damage to the (Henryville high) school there. All the children are out. No injuries to any of them, just minor scrapes and abrasions," Adams said.
Seven were hurt by a suspected twister in northern Alabama, and multiple tornadoes hit in Tennessee and along the Ohio River valley in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
Forecasters warned that conditions were ripe for another round of tornadoes into Friday evening, leading authorities in Alabama and Tennessee to close schools and put out alerts.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center forecast the "development of a few strong, long-track tornadoes over parts of extreme southern Indiana, central Kentucky and northern middle Tennessee."
They also issued heavy weather and tornadoe warnings for over a dozen states where government offices, schools, and businesses were being closed by authorities.
Of particuliar note were warnings in Georgia and Florida, where scores of counties have been issued flood warnings in addition to tornado warnings.
Officials in Paulding County, northwest of Atlanta, reported nearly 100 homes had suffered moderate to severe damaged, possibly by a tornado, as well as the county airport and an elementary school.
Other states likely to see heavy weather were Mississippi, Ohio, Georgia and Illinois, forecasters said.
Earlier in the week, a series of tornadoes killed 13 people in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.