The year’s first deadly US tornado struck after dark Thursday, killing two people in a small East Tennessee community as the first of five back-to-back, jet stream-driven winter storms pummeled the eastern United States.

A mother and daughter were killed during a suspected tornado in eastern Tennessee, which also injured three other people.

A tornado that swept through a swath of Tennessee left a mother and daughter dead and at least three other people injured as it caused "severe property damage," officials said.