The worst storms to slam southern US states in years flattened buildings and overturned vehicles, with intense tornados and floods leaving a trail of destruction and 258 people dead. The severe weather killed 128 people in Alabama on Wednesday alone, authorities said, and President Barack Obama said Washington would be rushing assistance to the battered southeastern state.
States of emergency were declared in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and governors called out the National Guard to help with rescue and cleanup operations. The National Weather Service (NWS) had preliminary reports of more than 300 tornados since storms began Friday, including more than 130 on Wednesday alone. Alabama was especially badly hit, with a tornado also striking the city of Birmingham.
The Tuesday-Wednesday storms are believed to be the deadliest US natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina of 2005. The NWS issued a rare “high-risk” warning of tornados, hail, flash flooding and dangerous lightning for parts of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. In Mississippi the storm killed 32 people and caused damage in 50 of its 82 counties, according to Greg Flynn at the state’s emergency management agency. He said most of the deaths and damage were caused by tornados and high winds.
State officials reported 11 dead in Arkansas, 10 killed in Georgia, seven in Virginia, and another three killed in Missouri and Tennessee, with the overall toll likely to rise. The death toll is expected to rise as more storms have been predicted for Saturday. Officials were considering deliberately destroying levees in some areas. As much as 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain had fallen from Saturday through Tuesday night in some areas.