Severe weather threatens eastern US states

Local news anchor Dawn Scott saw "piles of debris" in Vilonia, Arkansas

Severe weather is threatening as many as 73 million Americans in the eastern states, after two days of powerful storms killed up to 34 people.

Government forecasters have warned of severe thunderstorms from the Gulf of Mexico up to the Great Lakes.

On Sunday and Monday, tornadoes cut a broad track of death and destruction through the southern US states.

The storms flattened buildings, overturned cars, and left thousands of residents without power.

Aerial footage captured by a drone shows emergency vehicles and debris on a highway south of Mayflower, Arkansas

"Widespread thunderstorms are forecast across the central Gulf Coast region, with several severe [or] supercell storms possible," the National Weather Service wrote in a morning forecast.

More than two million people are said to be at risk of tornadoes and high winds in parts of Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday.

As the storm moves further east, parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina are expected to be under threat of severe weather, forecasters say.

Meanwhile, the search for survivors continues in the southern US states that were smashed by huge tornadoes on Monday and Tuesday.

In Mississippi, officials reported 12 dead, including nine near Louisville and three in separate traffic accidents.

Early on Tuesday, residents of Louisville crept from their shelters to find their homes demolished by a tornado that punched holes in the roof of a local hospital.

A fierce storm blew a freight train off its tracks in Illinois

'Start all over'

Giles Ward huddled in a bathroom with his wife and four other relatives as a tornado destroyed his brick house and overturned his son-in-law's four-wheel-drive parked outside his home in Louisville.
"For about 30 seconds, it was unbelievable,'' said Mr Ward, a Republican state senator. "It's about as awful as anything we've gone through."

The mayor of Tupelo, Jason Shelton, told CNN the damage from the storms was widespread and "devastating". A 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT) curfew was in place on Monday.

Power went out in much of the city as lines went down and trees were torn up by the storm, the US National Weather Service reported.

Three people were reported dead in Alabama, including a University of Alabama student who perished when he took shelter in a basement and a retaining wall collapsed on him.

Emergency crews search for survivors in Louisville, Mississippi (29 April 2014)

Emergency crews searched for survivors in the rubble early on Tuesday in Louisville, Mississippi

Gloucester Street in Tupelo, Mississippi (28 April 2014)

Gloucester Street in Tupelo was decimated

As many as 16 people were killed on Sunday, including 14 in the towns surrounding Little Rock, Arkansas, with Mayflower and Vilonia bearing the brunt of the damage.

Many homes and businesses, including a new secondary school worth $14m (£8.3m), were left in ruins in Vilonia after the storm.
"There's just really nothing there anymore. We're probably going to have to start all over again," said Vilonia schools chief Frank Mitchell after inspecting the wreckage of the school.

The death toll may yet rise as crews search the wreckage of destroyed buildings.

"We're trying to make sure everyone is accounted for," Brandon Morris, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press news agency.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said the storm "may be one of the strongest we have seen".

A travel trailer sits in the rubble of a house in Mayflower, Arkansas (28 April 2014)

A trailer was overturned in Mayflower, Arkansas

People search through the rubble of destroyed houses a day after a tornado hit the town of Vilonia, Arkansas (28 April 2014)

People searched the rubble following a tornado strike in Vilonia, Arkansas

President Barack Obama, on a trip to the Philippines, offered his deepest condolences to those affected on Sunday and said federal emergency officials would be on the ground to help.
"Your country will be there to help you recover and rebuild, as long as it takes," he said.