Officials confirmed on Friday that search efforts were ongoing and assessments were underway to evaluate the extensive damage caused by a series of tornadoes that tore through the central U.S. and Midwest overnight.

These tornadoes leveled homes, claimed the lives of at least three individuals, and left dozens injured.

The most severe damage occurred in Ohio, particularly in the Indian Lake and Orchard Island communities, approximately 70 miles northwest of Columbus, according to Logan County Sheriff Randy Dodds during a news conference on Friday.

Dodds noted that the storms had killed at least three people in Ohio, and there was a possibility of discovering more casualties as search and rescue teams, along with volunteers, sifted through the debris.

In east-central Indiana, 38 individuals sustained injuries, and numerous residences and commercial establishments were destroyed by tornadoes, as reported by officials.

Additionally, a probable tornado struck a retirement community roughly 40 miles southwest of Little Rock in Arkansas, resulting in only minor injuries, although several buildings were damaged, USA Today reported.

Tornadoes also caused destruction in northern Kentucky, while suspected tornado activity was observed in Illinois and Missouri.

Overall, the National Weather Service documented over 670 reports of severe weather across 12 states on Thursday, including 500 reports of hail.

At one point, there were 16 simultaneous tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service during the afternoon, making it the seventh-highest count for any day in March since 1986, according to Daryl Herzmann, a weather analyst with the Iowa Environmental Mesonet at Iowa State University.

These tornadoes were generated by potent storms that had unleashed baseball-sized hail across the Plains and Midwest regions as they progressed eastward over the course of several days earlier in the week.

Written by B.C. Begley