At least 19 people were killed in Oklahoma and Missouri on Saturday as tornadoes and other severe weather swept across the Midwest, according to emergency management agencies in both states.

A tornado touched down about 5:42 p.m. in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, killing seven people and heavily damaging buildings in a 20-block area, the service said.

Michelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said there were a number of people unaccounted for in Picher, Oklahoma.

She said the town enlisted the help of firefighters from surrounding areas who went house-to-house, sifting through the rubble and searching for survivors.

“I know they are going through the rubble, trying to find people missing,” Ooten told The Associated Press. “There are numerous injuries.”

“It looks like a war zone,” she said. “Some homes have fallen in, some homes have lost roofs, and some are now just slabs.”

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said Picher’s victims included an infant, AP reported Sunday.

“We’ve seen homes that were completely leveled to the foundation,” Brown said. “In a few of these homes you would have had to be subterranean to survive.”

Ottawa County Emergency Manager Frank Geasland told AP that dozens of people were injured, some seriously.

“Trees are toppled over, ripped apart,” he said. “There are cars thrown everywhere. It looks like a bomb went off, pretty much.”

According to AP, other tornadoes were reported near McAlester and Haywood in Pittsburg County and in rural Pushmataha County, both in southeastern Oklahoma.

CNN News