Tornadoes in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky kill at least 23 people and injure more than 100, authorities say.(CNN) -- Tornadoes that roared through parts of Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee killed at least 16 people and injured nearly 100 more Tuesday night, authorities said.
The storm prompted the early closures of polling places, damaged a university, a shopping mall, a retirement home and a hospital, and caused damage that may not be fully apparent until daybreak.
It trapped people in damaged buildings and ignited a fire that sent flames shooting hundreds of feet into the night sky.
"Rescue crews are going to go all night long," said Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the Arkansas governor. "Until daylight comes, we're really not going to know the scope of things."
The storm killed seven people in four counties in Arkansas, he said.
In Atkins, Arkansas, three people were killed, including a man, woman and child in the same family, Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson told CNN.
Five others were transferred to local hospitals.
Gibson said there was widespread damage across the county, and that trucks and vehicles were overturned by the storm along Interstate 40. The interstate was briefly closed, he said, but had since reopened.
About 30 National Guardsmen will help with the recovery effort in Atkins on Friday morning, DeCample said.
The other fatalities in Arkansas were in Conway County, where two were killed, and in Clinton and Gassville, both of which had one death.
In Tennessee, the tornado trapped college students and retirees in collapsed building and retirement-home communities, said Julie Oaks, a spokeswoman for the state's Emergency Management Agency.
In Memphis, a tornado swept through the southeastern section of the city, killing three people and injuring a dozen others, according to emergency management officials. All three died when part of a warehouse collapsed on them. At least eight others were injured across the county.
Also hit in the storm was the Hickory Ridge Mall, said Shelby County, Tennessee, Emergency Preparedness Director Bob Nations Jr.
There were no significant injuries, he said, but added, "The mall infrastructure is heavily damaged."
One person was killed in Madison County, Oaks said. Two others died in Hardin County, according to the local emergency management agency.
At least 50 people were trapped after the storm caused damage to the Jackson Oaks Retirement Home, Oaks said. Nine students were trapped in a damaged dormitory at Union University in Jackson, she said.
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