A tornado roaring across southeast Alabama killed at least 23 people, including children, and injured several others on Sunday as severe storms destroyed mobile homes, snapped trees and caused widespread destruction.
Dozens of emergency responders rushed to join search and rescue efforts in Lee County, Alabama, after what appeared to be a large tornado touched down on Sunday afternoon, springing out of a powerful storm system raking the Southeast.
"Unfortunately our toll, as far as fatalities, does stand at 23 at the current time," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said.
Mr Jones described the damage caused by the storm as "catastrophic, based on the destruction of homes that we’ve seen."
"The devastation is incredible," he said. "I cannot recall at least in the last 50 years… a situation where we have had this loss of life that we experienced today."
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Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said. An intense ground search would resume on Monday morning.
Mr Jones said the storm’s path of destruction stretched for miles through his rural county. He didn’t have an immediate account of how many were believed missing.
Several people in Lee County were taken to hospitals, "some of them with very serious injuries," Mr Jones said.
After nightfall on Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard.
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President Donald Trump tweeted late on Sunday, "To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. … To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!"
Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said the death toll could rise.
"We’ve still got people being pulled out of rubble," he told the Birmingham News newspaper. "We’re going to be here all night."
"There are some children involved," Harris said later, following unconfirmed reports that an eight-year-old girl was among the dead.
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The East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika said in a statement that it was treating more than 40 patients as a result of the tornado and expected to receive more. Some patients had been sent to other hospitals, it added.
Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders jumped in to efforts to search the debirs after the powerful storm hit. She said numerous homes were destroyed or damaged in Beauregard, about 60 miles east of Montgomery.
"We’ve still got people being pulled out of rubble," Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told Al.com. "We’re going to be here all night."
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Photos posted on social media from a highway near Smiths Station, about 20 miles east of Beauregard, showed a large bar called the Buck Wild Saloon with its roof torn off and missing most of a wall after the storm swept through.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey warned residents on Twitter that more severe weather might be on the way.
A state of emergency for Alabama, issued on Feb. 23 to deal with flooding, would be extended, she said.
"Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today," Ivey wrote. "Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected."
No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties outside Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.
Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 pm on Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham, Alabama, office of the National Weather Service.
Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina as the powerful storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out early on Monday to assess the situation involving those and others.
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In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.
Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.
"The last check I had was between six and eight injuries," Ms Ereheim said. "From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken."
Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.