Carl Crews looks over the damage left from a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Carl Crews looks over the damage left from a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Debris dangles from power lines and covers cars in the parking lot of a destroyed Lowes Home Improvement Centre. Homes and businesses were badly damaged by a severe storm system that whipped across North Carolina, bringing flash floods, hail and reports of tornadoes from the western hills to the streets of Raleigh. Photo: AP
Residents look at a tree that fell into a home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
A worker takes a picture of the damage left behind from a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
A large tree causes damage after falling into a house after a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Emergency personnel enters Lowes Home Improvement after it was hit by a tornado in Sanford, North Carolina. Homes and businesses were badly damaged by a severe storm system that whipped across North Carolina, bringing flash floods, hail and reports of tornadoes from the western hills to the streets of Raleigh. Photo: AP
Janette Bentley stands near an uprooted tree in front of her home on Veterans Memorial Parkway after a reported tornado went through parts of Tuscaloosa County. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: AP
Debris fill the street after a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Gary Sponholtz walks through the debris left behind from a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Debris fill the street after a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: AP
Debris fill the street after a tornado in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Residents look at a tree that fell into a home in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: Reuters
Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: AP
Jerome Whittington attempts to salvage belongings through the window of his automobile in Tushka, Oklahoma. Tornadoes tore through the Carolinas as the death toll rose to 20 people from the storms across the southern United States over the last three days. Photo: AP
Rebecca Parks carries out salvaged personal items from the remains of a tornado damaged neighbour in east Clinton. Although her own home sustained damage, Parks and her children assisted neighbours in their cleanup. The state was hit by a line of severe storms that spawned at least one tornado causing extensive damage and multiple injuries. Photo: AP
Published Apr 17, 2011
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A furious storm system that kicked up tornadoes, flash floods and hail as big as grapefruits has claimed at least 35 lives across the southern US. Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. Authorities warned the death toll was likely to rise further on Sunday as searchers probed shattered homes and businesses. The storm claimed its first lives on Thursday night in Oklahoma, then roared through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. They hit North Carolina and neighbouring Virginia on Saturday before the sprawling, potent storm bands moved eastward over the Atlantic.
In North Carolina, Government. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency and said the 62 tornadoes reported were the most deadly since March 1984, when a storm system spawned 22 twisters in the Carolinas that killed 57 people and injured hundreds.
