Death-toll from tornado outbreak across southern U.S. hits 355

April 30, 2011 – TUSCALOOSA, AL – As emergency responders continued to tally the dead on Saturday, surviving family members and friends prepared to bury loved ones who perished in what has become the second deadliest single-day tornado outbreak in U.S. history. Among the victims for whom memorial services are planned in the coming days are three students of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The area has emerged as the focal point for the Wednesday disaster that swept through six southern states and has killed 342 people so far. According to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, at least 45 people people died during the storms in Tuscaloosa County, more than in any of the other five southern states that recorded deaths from Wednesday’s violent weather. By early Saturday morning, emergency management officials tallied 254 deaths in Alabama, 34 in Tennessee, 33 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia, 5 in Virginia and 1 in Arkansas. The town of Tuscaloosa is unrecognizable after this disaster. Hundreds are unaccounted for in Tuscaloosa alone, though not all have been officially reported missing. “We’re hopeful and prayerful that a large majority of that is just duplicates within our dispatch system,” Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said. “However, we are putting cadaver dog teams through the city in a frantic search to find everyone that is accounted for.” –CNN

WAR ZONE: “The destruction is beyond words,” tornado victim    (c) AP Video

Deadliest storms ever: “Some of the killer tornadoes that ripped across the South may have been among the largest and most powerful ever recorded, experts suggested, leaving a death toll that is approaching that of a tragic “super outbreak” of storms almost 40 years ago. Only 1 percent of twisters reach the most powerful readings, but Brooks thinks several of those that left death and destruction in Alabama and five other states Wednesday fall into that category.” –Physics.org