Band of tornadoes leaves 33 dead

EMERGENCY crews searched for survivors yesterday amid the wreckage of communities smashed by a series of pulverising storms that barreled through more than a half-dozen states, killing at least 33 people and injuring more than 100.

The long band of storms, including several tornadoes, stretched from Louisiana to Pennsylvania, with Tennessee and Alabama the hardest hit.

The death toll included 16 in Tennessee, 10 in Alabama and five in Ohio. Pennsylvania and Mississippi reported one death each. One tornado in Ohio blasted apart a theatre just minutes after a movie ended.

As the storms moved eastward, tornado warnings were posted yesterday morning for sections of Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage. Hundreds lost power in the Carolinas.

Some 45 people were unaccounted-for in the rural Tennessee community of Mossy Grove.

Officials said telephone lines were down and roads were blocked, making it difficult to find people who might be OK.

A tornado cut a swath five to six miles long just before 9pm Sunday, killing at least seven people in the town.

Phone service was out and emergency crews had to rely on ham radio operators for communication.

Authorities were kept away from assessing much of the damage because toppled trees and power lines blocked roadways, and they feared the death toll would rise as daybreak revealed the extent of the devastation.

"It's mass destruction, death," said Ken Morgan, an officer in nearby Oliver Springs. "Mossy Grove is destroyed."

Carbon Hill, Alabama, was in a similar situation as a night-time swarm of storms belted the area and sent giant hardwood trees crashing down on small houses and mobile homes.

The tornadoes flattened dozens of homes throughout the region and left tens of thousands without power. Wind hit an estimated 140 mph in Tennessee and the storms carried torrential rain and golf-ball-sized hail.

Unseasonably high temperatures in the 80s followed by a cold front made conditions ripe for tornadoes, which are not unusual this time of year, said Gene Rench, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Memphis.