228 feared dead as tornados ravage southern US states

TORNADOES and violent storms have ripped through seven southern US states, killing at least 228 people as they flattened neighbourhoods, flipped cars and toppled trees and power lines.

In the deadliest series of tornadoes in nearly four decades in the United States, 131 people were killed in Alabama, the worst-hit state which suffered "massive destruction of property," Governor Robert Bentley said yesterday. "We expect that number to rise," he added.

The clusters of powerful tornadoes – more than 160 in total – combined with storms to cut a swathe of destruction heading from west to east over several days. In preliminary estimates, other state officials reported 32 killed in Mississippi, 30 in Tennessee, 11 in Arkansas, 14 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and two in Louisiana.

The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Alabama was expected to be shut for days, possibly weeks, as workers repaired damaged transmission lines, the failure of which cut it off from external power. But the backup systems – using diesel generators – worked as intended to prevent a partial meltdown like the nuclear disaster in Japan.

"The reactors will remain shut until we have restored the reliability of the transmission system," said Ray Golden, spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the 3,274-megawatt plant.

Up to one million people in Alabama were left without power.

Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate said it was too early for his agency to confirm overall death toll.

Some of the worst devastation occurred on Wednesday in Alabama, where a mile-wide tornado slammed into Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, killing at least 37 people including some students.

Student Steve Niven, 24, said: "It sounded like a chain-saw. You could hear the debris hitting things. All I have left is a few clothes and tools that were too heavy for the storm to pick up. It doesn't seem real."

Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the US South and Midwest, but they are rarely so devastating. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for Alabama and ordered federal aid.

"Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation and (we] stand ready to continue to help the people of Alabama," he said.

Governor Bentley also declared a state of emergency in Alabama and said he was deploying 2,000 National Guardsman.

Governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee also declared states of emergency.

"We're in a search-and-rescue mode. We're making sure that those that may be out there that are trapped, that we have not found, we are trying to find them," Mr Bentley told CNN.

"There has been massive devastation across northern Alabama. These long-track tornadoes really tear up the landscape as well as homes," he said.

Shops, shopping malls, drug stores, petrol stations and dry cleaners were all flattened in one section of Tuscaloosa, a town of around 95,000.

Wednesday was the deadliest day of tornadoes in the United States since 310 people lost their lives on 3 April, 1974, weather forecasters said.