now, the devastation has been particularly brutal in illinois and missouri. in harrisburg, illinois, six deaths were reported after a storm leveled much of the small town of about 9,000 residents. more than 300 homes and businesses now lay in ruin. in branson, missouri, much of the town is without power right now. roofs were ripped off hotels and the city's famous music theaters seriously damaged from tuesday night into wednesday morning. tornadoes were reported across eight separate states. nbc's ron blome joins me now from branson, missouri. what's the latest on the ground there? >> well, this is where a lot of this tornado outbreak began last night about 1:30 in the morning. sirens were going off and officials credit that with the low injury toll. only 2 injuries. the joplin effect, people still scared what happened in joplin last may were paying attention. as you can see behind me, a lot of clean-up. this is the entertainment strip