High winds are whipping up wildfires in Texas on Friday as a roiling low pressure system moves east and threatens to land powerful tornadoes in the Plains and beyond.

About 47 million people faced an enhanced to moderate severe storm threat from Madison, Wisconsin, to Birmingham, Alabama.

A series of destructive tornadoes have swept across parts of the United States, resulting in at least 27 deaths as a powerful storm system moved swiftly through the region since Friday, according to the Associated Press.