Severe storms bringing potentially damaging winds are approaching the Chicago area late Friday night, as a fast-moving squall line races through the state.The fast-moving line of storms will be capable of producing destructive winds over 70 miles per hour and potential tornadoes before the storm system clears the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana around 3 a.

A line of severe thunderstorms, the first extreme weather event of the year, will hit the Chicago area around midnight Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

At least three people have died as a powerful system of storms sweeps across a wide swathe of the central and southern of the United States, with another three killed in vehicle crashes as blinding winds whipped through Texas and Oklahoma.