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DAMASCUS, Ark.—Violent storms rolling across the nation’s midsection killed seven people in Arkansas on Friday, including a teenager who died when a tree fell into her bedroom and a father and son when a possible tornado hit their mobile home.

The storms spawned numerous tornadoes in different parts of Arkansas, where some 350 homes were damaged or destroyed, emergency officials said. At least two schools and a fire station were damaged.

The 15-year-old girl died in the early morning as she slept and her 10-year-old brother suffered minor injuries when the storm, apparently with straight-line winds, hit their mobile home in a working-class neighborhood of Siloam Springs, on the Oklahoma border.

After sunup, the storms killed six people in central Arkansas. More than a dozen people were injured. Tornadoes late Thursday and early Friday damaged homes in and around Kansas City, Mo., and also ravaged parts of Oklahoma and Texas.

By late Friday afternoon, “a large and extremely dangerous” tornado caused heavy damage in the east Arkansas town of Earle as it headed toward the Mississippi River border with Tennessee, the National Weather Service said. State emergency officials said a possible tornado also hit near Parkin, and a factory there was damaged along with Earle High School, but no injuries were reported.

Wes Morrison, 24, who grew up at Earle but now attends Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., said he was back in town to work on his family’s farm. He and his father were at a convenience store when a friend called and warned them about the severe weather heading for the town.

“Dad and I took off,” Morrison said, driving quickly across town to the home of Morrison’s grandparents. “As we were going down Main Street, you could just see that cloud twirling around.”

When he looked back just before arriving at his grandparents’ house, Morrison said, “all I saw was debris” in the air.

He and his father made it to an inside bathroom of the home just before the tornado came through, Morrison said.

“I don’t think it lasted but 10 seconds,” he said. “When it was over, the First Baptist Church of Earle, which is just across the street from my grandparents’ house—it’s gone.”

Some windows were broken in his grandparents’ house, Morrison said, and the roof now has a couple of holes, but no one in his family was injured.

Gov. Mike Beebe said Arkansans would cope with the disaster, as they have had to do several times already this spring.

“We will fight through it, we will get through it and we will help our neighbors,” Beebe said. “We’ll do what’s necessary to take care of our people.”

Beebe later declared seven Arkansas counties—Benton, Cleburne, Conway, Grant, Pulaski, Saline and Van Buren—disaster areas because of the storms. A news release from his office said he planned to tour storm-damaged areas on Saturday.

The Arkansas deaths included the teenager in Siloam Springs; the father and son dead in Conway County; one dead in Pulaski County, south of Little Rock; and three dead in Van Buren County. Conway and Van Buren counties also had fatalities during a Feb. 5 tornado, which struck with winds estimated at greater than 165 mph.

“This year it just seems like we’re getting pounded,” Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley said.

Randy Payne survived by hiding in a hallway at his aunt and uncle’s house in Damascus.

“It sounded like all hell was breaking loose,” said Payne, 38.

Returning to their single-story ranch home, Payne and his family found trees down in their front yard, shingles blown off their house and standing water on some of the home’s floors.

Just south of Bee Branch, Bradley said, a man, a woman and a preschool-age child died when the storm hit their house.

“There wasn’t anything left,” Bradley said. “It was demolished.”

Another child who lived at the home had already left for school, escaping injury.

Deputies, firefighters and volunteers from the public were going farm-to-farm in the rural area to check on everyone.

Just north of Damascus on U.S. 65, the storm knocked over trees as it moved northeast, directly hitting the Southside Baptist Church. The new church, which neighbors said had not yet held services, lost its roof. Members of a work crew ran inside after a neighbor warned them of the coming storm. They said it was total silence as the storm approached.

“Everybody was afraid,” said Jesus Estrada, 22, a worker.

After the storm ripped through, he and others went down the street and helped firefighters help others out of their homes. Afterward, they stood outside the battered church, having exchanged their soaked clothes for white choir robes.

Conway County Sheriff Mike Smith said the father and his son died when storms hit near Birdtown. Brandon Baker, Conway County emergency services director, said six people with “pretty severe” injuries were taken to a local hospital. Ten to 20 homes were destroyed in a rural area, and more sustained damage.

“At this point, we’re all at the mercy of Mother Nature,” Smith said, as he stood in a debris-strewn pasture.

State emergency officials said more than 100 homes were damaged in Cleburne County. Officials also received reports of property damage in Benton, Franklin, Howard, Newton, Pope and Van Buren counties. Also, Carlisle Elementary School and the Carlisle Fire Department were damaged.

The weather service received reports of multiple tornadoes touching down around the state—near Belfast and Sheridan in Grant County, Birdtown and Center Ridge in Conway County, Damascus in Van Buren County, Hensley, Keo and Woodson in Pulaski County, East End in Saline County, Carlisle in Lonoke County, and Hazen and near Des Arc in Prairie County.

The strong winds, rains and hail blew out electric service to nearly 6,000 homes and businesses. Entergy spokesman James Thompson said that as of midmorning, 2,067 customers at Harrison in north Arkansas were without power, 2,602 lost service in Russellville and 1,170 in Dardanelle, both in west-central Arkansas.

Beebe told reporters during a Friday afternoon news conference that National Guard troops would head out to provide security for the communities hit by the tornadoes. The governor said R. David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, had already called to speak with state officials.

FEMA officials still remain in Arkansas after a spate of tornadoes, flooding and snow storms hit the state beginning Feb. 5.

“You can see the bags under the eyes of the people who consistently over and over again are called on to respond,” Beebe said. “That’s their job and that’s our job and we’ll do it, no matter how many hours it takes or how many days it takes.”

In the Kansas City area, officials said several people were injured, none seriously. About 40,000 lost power at the peak of the storm, which brought wind of up to 80 mph. Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser said 100 homes suffered significant damage in the city alone. Damage was also reported in the suburbs and in Lawrence, to the west.

In northeast Kansas City, dozens of homes had chunks of their roofs missing, and trees were knocked from their roots and laying along the roads and in ditches. Police blocked off roads surrounding the damaged neighborhoods Friday.

In Canton, Texas, local officials said an apparent tornado Friday ripped down power lines and injured two people in overturned vehicles. Details on their condition were not immediately available.

The storm hit as visitors were beginning to show up for a popular open-air market that draws thousands to the county seat each month.

At least two tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma late Thursday, including one near Ralston, though no injuries or significant damage was reported there.