44 killed as storm rips across six US states

The storm, which first hit on Thursday, has made its way through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina. It has reportedly caused more than 200 tornadoes including 62 in North Carolina yesterday.

Tornadoes "ripped across the Southeast killing as many as 44 people over the past three days," CNN reported quoting National Weather Service and reports from several states.
There were 14 deaths in Bertie County, North Carolina, a rural area in the northeast part of the state, the weather service said today.

Although the weather service reported that number, local authorities said they were still working to determine the exact number of deaths.

"Reports are still incoming," Mike Sprayberry, deputy director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, told CNN.

The death toll across seven states includes 23 total in North Carolina; four in Virginia; seven in Alabama, two in Olkahoma, seven in Arkansas and one in Mississippi.
The deaths in North Carolina included three people in Raleigh who were killed in mobile homes, the weather service said. In eastern North Carolina, two people died near Ammon, one was killed in the Bladenboro area and another died in the Benson and Black Creek area, the weather service said.

North Carolina state Rep. Mike Stone reported two additional deaths in Lee County.
At Camp Lejeune, according to a news release, an unknown number of base residents suffered injuries and nearly 30 homes were damaged following a series of tornadoes that touched down near a housing area Saturday evening.

One seriously injured child was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the statement.
The storm rendered five homes uninhabitable and prompted officials to set up a temporary shelter at a nearby elementary school, the statement read.

The "outbreak of severe weather in North Carolina is quite unusual because of the intensity and frequency of tornadoes," said CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. "This doesn't happen very often in this part of the country."

When the Carolinas get tornadoes, they generally "tend to be smaller, weaker tornadoes -- not these big monster supercells," Jeras said. CNN affiliate WTVD broadcast images of damaged homes and vehicles in Smithfield, North Carolina, as local residents and emergency workers surveyed the damage.

Gov. Bev Perdue declared a state of emergency for the entire state, according to the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.

"We've been assured we'll have whatever federal support we'll need," Perdue told reporters late Saturday.

The governor said that as of late Saturday, the number of storm-related power outages had dropped from 250,000 to 143,000.

The service said more than 100 twisters have been spotted across the region during the recent storms.In South Carolina, a tornado cut through Berkeley County, destroying a church and injuring six people, the weather service said.

Meanwhile, emergency crews in Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama worked to assess the damage after the storm system moved north through the Carolinas and up into southern Virginia.

In Virginia, three Gloucester County residents died and 64 suffered injuries from the fast-moving storms Saturday, according to Bob Spieldenner, director of public affairs for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.

A tornado also ripped the roof off a school in the county, felled trees that blocked multiple roads and severed power lines, leaving 9,300 people without electricity, according to Spieldenner.

In the Shenandoah Valley, in the western part of the state, a child died after being swept away in a flash flood, according to the National Weather Service. Spieldenner said authorities rescued another flood victim, but a third is missing.

The storms were the latest in a round of severe weather that has hit parts of the Midwest and South since Thursday. They left a trail of downed trees and power lines, scattered cars and crushed homes as it moved east.