Devastating storms pounded three central US states Thursday night, spawning massive tornadoes including one that hit a trailer park in Indiana and killed three people, US media reported.

More than 13 million people in the central United States were under tornado watches, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. 

A "very dangerous half-mile-wide tornado" touched down in Ohio state, NWS said.

One struck the rural town of Indian Lakes in western Ohio.

"It's pure devastation. I have never seen anything like this in my entire life," Amber Fagan, president of the Indian Lakes Chamber of Commerce, told a Columbus ABC television station.

"Downtown, it's bad. It's very bad."

Three people died in a mobile home park in Winchester, Indiana, when a suspected tornado struck, the ABC and NBC television networks reported, citing state police.

Storms hopscotched across the Ohio Valley, spawning apparent tornadoes in a number of areas.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on social media that a tornado moved through Gallatin and Trimble in his state but left no fatalities.

Tornadoes, a weather phenomenon that is as impressive as it is difficult to predict, are relatively common in the United States, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.