At least nine dead after storms wreak destruction in US

Metal framing is visible at a heavily damaged Shell petrol station after a suspected tornado moved through the area (Elia Valverde II/AP)

Powerful storms killed at least nine people and left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a lorry stop where drivers took shelter during the latest deadly weather to strike the central US.

Five of the deaths were in Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado on Saturday night plough through a rural area near a mobile home park, officials said.