Over the past 24 hours, more than 40 reported tornadoes have swept across eight states in the Midwest and South -- and the dangerous severe weather threat continues. The eight states with reported tornadoes in the past day are Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee.

The wife of a man who was killed was miraculously not injured and another woman was found dead early Sunday morning.

A state of emergency has been declared in Alabama as severe weather makes its way towards the state and the Wiregrass. The state of emergency has been issued for all 67 counties around the state and will go into effect Friday at 2:00 p.

Forecasts have placed a large portion of Alabama under the highest risk of severe weather ahead of an expected outbreak on Saturday. About noon on Friday the National Weather Service's storm prediction center placed a large part of central Alabama under a level five risk of severe weather.