Kansas was the latest state on Wednesday to be assessing the damage from a series of tornadoes, as the US reeled from its most significant spell of storms in almost 40 years.

Tornadoes in the past week have ripped through the Mid West, killing seven people in Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma and Ohio.

On Monday, the US tied its current record of 11 consecutive days with at least eight tornadoes confirmed on each of those days, said Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist for the federal Storm Prediction Center.

The previous 11-day stretch of at least eight tornadoes per day ended on June 7, 1980.

"We’re getting big counts on a lot of these days and that is certainly unusual," said Mr Marsh.

The National Weather Service had already received at least 27 more reports of tornadoes on Tuesday, suggesting that the record for consecutive days would be broken once the official totals are in.

Storm warnings were issued as far away as Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey and New York City.

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Mr Marsh said high pressure over the Southeast and an unusually cold trough over the Rockies are forcing warm, moist air into the central US, triggering repeated severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

In the city of Hannibal, Missouri, officials were on Wednesday just beginning to assess the damage after torrential rain proved too much for the storm sewers, causing a break that resulted in water damage to buildings in the historic downtown area.

The rain is expected to cause yet another spike in river levels. The Mississippi River is already approaching all-time records at several Missouri and Illinois communities.

The relative quiet in recent years followed the massive tornado that killed 161 people and injured more than 1,100 in Joplin, Missouri, in 2011.

The Kansas storm tore through the Kansas City area, spawning tornadoes that downed trees and power lines, damaged homes and injured at least a dozen people. It came a day after violent storms killed one person and injured at least 130 in Indiana and Ohio.

Sue Taulbee, 71, was watching television in her bed in the Dayton, Ohio, suburb of Brookville when she heard an approaching twister.

"They say it’s like a freight train: That’s what I heard," she said. "It was only a couple of minutes, but it seemed like an hour. I just started screaming and my neighbours heard me and said, ‘Sue! Sue! I hear you! We’re coming! We’re coming!’"

They pulled her out through a hole in her collapsed home and brought her to a hospital to treat a cut on her head.

Mark Duffin, 48, learned from his wife and a television report that the large tornado was headed toward his home in Linwood, Kansas, about 30 miles west of Kansas City.

The next thing he knew, the walls of his house were coming down.

Mr Duffin told the Kansas City Star that he grabbed a mattress, followed his 13-year-old to the basement and protected the two of them with the mattress as the home crashed down around them.

"I’m just glad I found my two dogs alive," he said. "Wife’s alive, family’s alive, I’m alive. So, that’s it."