The deadliest storms for 40 years have obliterated large swaths of land from Mississippi to Georgia, killing at least 250 people in six states, wiping out homes and businesses and causing a nuclear power plant to use back-up generators. The death toll, already staggering, continues to rise almost every few minutes as rescue workers pull bodies from the rubble. There are fears it could rise higher than the death toll recorded in 1974 when 315 people lost their lives in a single day when violent storms rocked several states.
There were reports of more than 160 twisters crashing through the Southern states right up to the Northern states, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center
There were 162 dead in Alabama alone, the state emergency management agency confirmed. It was the worst hit state that saw an enormous F5-category tornado rip through Birmingham yesterday leaving a path of devastation in its wake.
Barack Obama will travel to state tomorrow to view the damage from the storms. The president will meet with Governor Robert Bentley, state and local officials and families, The White House confirmed.
At least 200 people died in six states, with Alabama hardest-hit, the Associated Press reported.
The president added Alabama to stops tomorrow in Florida that include Cape Canaveral for the launch of the space shuttle, and Miami, where he is scheduled to speak at a college commencement.
'We were in the bathroom holding on to each other and holding on to dear life,' said Samantha Nail, who lives in a blue-collar subdivision in the Birmingham suburb of Pleasant Grove.
There the storm slammed heavy pickup trucks into ditches and obliterated tidy brick houses, leaving behind a mess of mattresses, electronics and children's toys scattered across a grassy plain where dozens used to live.
'If it wasn't for our concrete walls, our home would be gone like the rest of them,' she added. Read More
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