Strong winds from what appeared to be a tornado damaged several buildings on Central US. It killed one person in a massive traffic pileup caused by the snow.

The Associated Press reports three people were taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries after a strong storm flattened an antique store and damaged a gas station in Buffalo.

“There was no warning. We had nothing on radar” to indicate a funnel cloud, said Terry Lane, emergency management director for Missouri’s Dallas County, according to the AP.

Officials said that in Colorado more than a dozen people were injured in a pileup where more than 75 vehicles were involved along Interstate 70 near Vail Pass.

Rural Lawrence County was hit by a tornado which damaged a large barn and some utility poles south of Miller.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed because of the strong wind moving across Illinois.

A tornado tore the roof of a house and damaged other buildings in northern Oklahoma County. Several roads were closed by high weather in Northwest Oklahoma County.  

The United States has the most tornados of any country due to the geography of the continent. As it has no major east-west mountain range to block the air flow between the tropical south and arctic areas, this allows for many collisions between warm and cold air. Strong tornadoes usually occur in an area of the central United States known as the Tornado Alley. The name describes the areas in between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains where tornados are most frequent.