Emergency crews searched through wreckage on Sunday from violent storms that left a path of destruction from the Midwest to the South and killed more than 20 people in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia.

In Missouri, tornadoes tore through small towns in the southwestern section of the state, near the border with Oklahoma, just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, overturning cars and smashing buildings.

The superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, James F. Keathley, said the tornadoes killed at least 15 people and injured hundreds. A family was killed when its vehicle was hit by a tornado, Superintendent Keathley said.

Capt. Tim Hull of the Highway Patrol said 12 of the deaths occurred in Newton County. “It’s a rural area,” Captain Hull said. “There are some small towns that were hit hard.”

The storm inflicted the most damage in Racine, a town about 170 miles south of Kansas City.