Seven confirmed dead in US tornado

SEVEN people were killed when a devastating tornado tore through northwestern Ohio, a state emergency management official says.

"All seven deaths were a result of the tornado," said Tamara McBride, spokeswoman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency on Sunday, adding that the fatalities were from a tornado that touched down in Wood County, southeast of Toledo, Ohio.

As many as seven tornadoes touched down in northwestern Ohio late on Saturday and early on Sunday morning, according to data from the US National Weather Service.

A five-year-old child was among the dead in the small town of Millbury, Ohio, local media reported, citing Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer.

Heavy storm winds were already raking Millbury when the main twister touched down at around 11pm Saturday local time, destroying some 50 homes, businesses, and the roof and walls were ripped from the local high school, local officials said.

Hummer told MSNBC the tornado tore a seven-mile long corridor of devastation, about 100 metres wide, through Millbury.

A dozen people were hospitalised following the tornado, he said.

The tornadoes and storms were not confined to Ohio, with 11 people injured in storms in Michigan and 17 hospitalised in Illinois.

Damage to a wall of a Michigan nuclear power plant prompted an automatic shutdown, CNN reported on Sunday, and the facility will remain closed until response crews assess the impact.