SENECA, Mo. (AP) - As Bonnie Fanning sat alone in her underground concrete storm shelter, she heard a tornado rip off a vent and send debris slamming into its doors.

Although Saturday night's tornado demolished her mobile home in Seneca, Fanning said she was blessed to have made it into the shelter 10 minutes before the storm hit.

The twister killed 15 people in three southwest Missouri counties and left several others critically injured as it swept through mostly rural areas. Another seven died in Oklahoma and Georgia.

The death toll could still rise, as several victims remain hospitalized today.

Thirteen of the 15 Missouri deaths were in Newton County, with a rural area eight miles north of Seneca the hardest hit.

The victims included a Joplin family of five who died when their car was thrown more than 100 yards from a rural road into a nearby field as the family was traveling to a wedding. Another family of four died when a tree hit their mobile home.

Authorities say another fatality was reported north of Purdy in Barry County, and a 17-year-old girl died near Carthage in Jasper County after winds knocked a tree onto a trailer.

Governor Matt Blunt is expected to arrive in southwest Missouri to survey the damage later today.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)