ALEXANDRIA, La., Dec. 3--Nine persons were killed when a tornado swept across central Louisiana early today.

Another 20 were injured in Louisiana and 14 injured in Mississippi when an early morning storm struck a rural area.

Homes and barns were ripped to firewood.

The Red Cross sent nurses and disaster workers into the central Louisiana area.

Seven died at Leander, 25 miles southwest of Alexandria. Two were killed when the tornado ripped through Tullos, 40 miles northeast of Alexandria.

At Paradise, four highway workers sleeping in a trailer were carried on a wild 100-yard ride by the raging winds but escaped with minor injuries.

A short time after the tornado hit Louisiana, a storm struck the area around Fitler, Miss., in the Mississippi River delta north of Vicksburg. Fourteen persons were reported injured, at least one seriously.

Demolished and damaged homes and barns marked the northeasterly are of the storm. Beginning in the Leander area, it brushed the outskirts of Alexandria, hit Paradise, Dry Prong and Tulles.