JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A large storm system packing high winds, rain and some possible twisters tore across several states in the South and central U.S. today, blacking out power to thousands, downing trees and damaging homes.

One death was reported when a large tree blew down on a shed in Nashville, Tenn., where a man was sheltering, police told Nashville broadcaster WTVF-TV.

In Arkansas, another person was reported injured by lightning during the storm’s eastward trek. The storm was marching just ahead of a cold front as the volatile system headed toward the Eastern seaboard, dumping heavy rain in Kentucky and parts of Tennessee.

The rapidly changing conditions created a risk of tornadoes in the nation’s midsection and South. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the threat was greatest in recent hours in northeast Texas, northern Louisiana, northwest Mississippi, southeast Missouri and much of Arkansas.

Thousands were reported without power in Tennessee, where tornado warnings and flash flood warnings were issued for various counties and a tractor-trailer truck was blown on its side by high winds.

Entergy Arkansas Inc. reported at least 9,000 power outages in several communities around Arkansas at the height of the storm, including in and around Little Rock.

Authorities in Arkansas said they would be checking reports of possible twisters kicked up near a Little Rock suburb and in two locations in northwestern Arkansas. Power lines fell, trees were toppled and some homes suffered damage to rooftops around the state, according to emergency officials.