Storms kills dozens in Alabama and southern US
At least 25 deaths have been reported in the state of AlabamaSevere storms in Alabama have killed at least 40 people, bringing the death toll to at least 54 in the southern US, emergency officials have said.
A huge tornado levelled parts of the city of Tuscaloosa, in Alabama, as storms tore through southern states from Texas to Georgia.
Tuscaloosa's mayor told US media at least 15 people had died in the city. At least 100 more were said to be hurt.
Eleven more people were killed in storms earlier this week in the South.
The storms also killed 11 people in Mississippi, two in Georgia and one in both Arkansas and Tennessee.
The current storm system was forecast to hit North and South Carolina on Wednesday evening, before making its way further north-east.
Governors in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee have each declared a state of emergency as a result of the newest round of heavy winds, rains and tornadoes.
US media reported a tornado near Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, just outside Washington DC, on Wednesday evening.
Reduced to rubbleTuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox told the Associated Press news agency that at least 15 people had died there.
Parts of Tuscaloosa have been decimated by a tornado"The city experienced widespread damage from a tornado that cut a path of destruction deep into the heart of the city," he said in a statement.
A hospital in the city, which has a population of about 83,000, said its emergency room had admitted at least 100 people.
The damage from the tornado that struck near Tuscaloosa was made worse by earlier storms, which allowed the new storm system to uproot entire trees out of loose, wet mud, Michael Sznajderman, a spokesman for the Alabama Power Company, told the New York Times newspaper.
He added that at least 335,000 customers were without power in the region, with more storms on the way.
"The number of outages could be as high as what we saw with Hurricane Ivan or Hurricane Katrina," Mr Sznajderman told the newspaper.
Police officer deathEarly on Wednesday, a police officer from Louisiana on a camping trip with his family in Choctaw County in Mississippi was killed by a falling tree while using his body as a shield to protect his daughter from the storm, Kim Korthuis, a supervisor with the National Park Service, told AP.
Suspected tornadoes are being blamed for damaged roofs and downed power lines across the SouthThe nine-year-old girl escaped uninjured, although scared and drenched, and was looked after by a campsite volunteer.
Mississippi was the site of seven more deaths on Wednesday, with a tree crushing one man in his mobile home and a truck driver dying after hitting a fallen tree.
Downed trees blocked roads and highways in both Mississippi and Alabama, hindering rescue efforts by emergency responders.
A women was also killed in eastern Tennessee on Wednesday when trees fell on her trailer home in Chattanooga.
Storm systems have pummelled states across the southern US for weeks, with severe weather being blamed for the deaths of 10 people in Arkansas and one in Mississippi earlier this week.
Are you in any of the US southern states? Have you been affected by the thunderstorms? Send us your comments and experiences.
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