President pledges tornado aid

Expressing amazement at the destruction all around him, US President Barack Obama yesterday stepped through the wreckage left by rampaging tornadoes in Alabama and pledged help to those who had survived but lost their home.

"I've never seen devastation like this," he said.

The storms have killed about 300 people in the US South, mostly in Alabama. The confirmed loss of life - at least 297 dead - is the greatest from an outbreak of US tornadoes since April 1974, when the weather service said 315 people were killed by a storm that swept across 13 states.

"We're going to make sure you're not forgotten," Obama assured survivors as he and first lady Michelle Obama walked the streets of Tuscaloosa, the hardest hit town.

One of the tornados that hit Mississippi on Wednesday was half a mile wide with a wind speed of 205 mph.