A baby carried away by one of southern US tornadoes that killed at least 55 people has been found unscathed in a nearby field.
A passer-by found the infant crying in Castalian Springs, Tennessee.
"He had debris all over him, but there were no obvious signs of trauma," said Ken Weidner, head of emergency management in Sumner county. He said he did not know the fate of the parents.
Elsewhere survivors were mourning their dead and surveying the devastation wreaked by the 67 twisters that ripped through eight states.
Thirty-one people were killed in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and four in Alabama, said emergency workers.
There were no comprehensive estimates on damage, but the tornadoes flattened woods, shredded mobile homes and flipped-over tractor-trailers and lorries. Only the concrete floors remained where homes and garages once stood.
The worst-hit state was Tennessee, where some fell victim to an explosion at a natural gas distribution station in Hartsville which shot flames more than 150 meters (500ft) into the air.
Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen, who viewed the northern Tennessee damage by helicopter, said after his aerial tour: "It looks like the Lord took a Brillo pad and scrubbed the ground."
Three deaths were reported in Sumner county, Tennessee, including a couple found outside the ruins of their house, and a young mother discovered in a riverbed whose baby was rescued alive in the street a few meters away.
The roofs of two dormitories at Union University, Jackson, were destroyed, trapping eight and injuring 51, as more than 1,000 students slept below. In Shelby three people seeking shelter in a warehouse were killed when the roof fell in. The National Guard was called out to aid the rescue in many states, plucking people from swollen rivers and moving from house to house to free trapped residents. Fallen power lines and debris blocking roads hampered much of the rescue work.
"The damage is massive and widespread," said Mike Beebe, the Arkansas governor said. "We’ve had reports from people who credit the warnings for saving their lives and who were able to take cover. But, even when you get a warning, it might not do you much good. When it’s compounded by darkness, that makes it much more difficult."
Many of the houses in the small town of Atkins, Arkansas, 60 miles north of the state capital, Little Rock, were destroyed.
Victims included an 11-year-old girl and her parents, killed when their home took "a direct hit", according to Leonard Krout, coroner for Pope county. "Neighbors and friends who were there said: ‘There used to be a home there.’"
The tornado death toll was the highest in the US since May 1985 when more than 40 twisters hit Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, killing 88 people.
America’s deadliest tornadoes occurred in March 1925, leaving 695 people dead and more than 2,000 injured in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according to the Vermont-based Tornado Project.
Bill McCaul, a meteorologist with Nasa’s global hydrology and climate center, said: "This is substantial and one of the worst outbreaks we’ve seen in recent years. The problem with these winter tornadoes in the south-eastern US is that they move at 50-60mph and often come under the cover of darkness. There’s not much time to get out of the way and if you are asleep you may not get word."
George Bush expressed sympathy with the victims. "We hold up those who have suffered in our prayers," he said, promising that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was standing by to help.
The barrage of tornadoes weakened slightly as it moved east towards Georgia and the Florida panhandle last night, threatening to delay today’s scheduled launch of the space shuttle Atlantis from Cape Canaveral.
America’s deadliest tornadoes occurred in March 1925, leaving 695 people dead and more than 2,000 injured in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according to the Vermont-based Tornado Project
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