High winds are whipping up wildfires in Texas on Friday as a roiling low pressure system moves east and threatens to land powerful tornadoes in the Plains and beyond.

About 47 million people faced an enhanced to moderate severe storm threat from Madison, Wisconsin, to Birmingham, Alabama.

At least 12 fatalities have been reported in Missouri, according to the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. The deaths come as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that damaged buildings, whipped up deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.