Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the U.S., wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states.

Communities across the heartland are getting a clearer picture of the destruction left behind by severe weather over the weekend. At least 40 people were killed across seven states in the storms that brought high winds,

At least 40 people were killed over the weekend in a complex of powerful tornadoes, wind-fueled wildfires and dust storms across the Midwest and South. Mississippi was whipped by 32 of the 81 tornadoes,