[Source: Reuters]

First responders and clean-up crews fanned out across rural Indiana and Ohio on Friday after one or more tornadoes ripped through the area, killing three people and injuring dozens more as it leveled homes and businesses.

Three deaths were reported in Logan County, Ohio, after at least one tornado touched down and moved east at about 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, Sheriff Randall Dodds said in a statement. Earlier reports of three deaths in Indiana later proved to be false.

The twister was one of seven tornadoes in Indiana and Ohio reported to the National Weather Service on Thursday night and early Friday.

An additional tornado was reported in northern Texas, and a twister may have also caused damage in a northern Kentucky town.

On Friday, first responders were checking for victims in the Logan County communities of Lakeview, Midway and Orchard Island, Dobbs said during a news conference on Friday morning. The search was initially hampered by downed powerlines, gas leaks and a mass of destruction.

“We are going to recheck those areas again. There are many places back there that are collapsed,” Dodds said, adding that teams were out working on a grid system.

As daylight broke, aerial footage posted on social media revealed widespread destruction in Lakeview, a community of 1,100 residents about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Columbus, Ohio. It showed mobile homes ripped from their foundations, debris covering roadways and large trees on their side.