(Corrects state to Mississippi from Tennessee in 11th paragraph)
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Thirteen people were reported killed and dozens injured as tornadoes and lethal thunderstorms tore through areas of the U.S. South on Tuesday, causing widespread damage.
Six more died in Tennessee, according to the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, and more than two dozen others were injured, some critically.
Beebe's spokesman, Matt DeCample, said there was "no clue" as to how many were injured. "We're getting answers back in the multiples, but we're still looking for folks," he said.
The Jackson Sun newspaper reported on its Web site that a nursing home in Jackson had been seriously damaged but that the 114 residents were evacuated with no injuries reported.
CNN reported as many as 86 injuries and an unknown number of fatalities from the storm system, which swept through Arkansas before moving into Tennessee.
ABC affiliate WAPT in Jackson, Mississippi, reported on its Web site that a 50-foot (15-metre) wall had collapsed at the Sears store in the Hickory Ridge Mall in southeast Memphis and a building caught fire along State Line Road at Airways Boulevard.
The Nashville Tennessean newspaper, citing the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, said one man was found dead north of Somerville, Tennessee. The death was storm-related but no details have been reported, the newspaper said.
It also reported that 60 tractor-trailers had crashed on Interstate Highway 40.