At least 45 dead after storms rip through 6 states

Debris fill the street in Raliegh, N.C. after a tornado, flash flood, and hail storm yesterday

story by MSNBC
photo by Reuters

RALEIGH, N.C. — A furious storm system that kicked up tornadoes, flash floods and hail has left dozens dead on a rampage that has stretched for days as it barreled from Oklahoma to North Carolina and Virginia.

Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. At least 24 were killed, NBC reported from Raleigh, where rools were ripped off stores, trees were plucked out of the ground and scores of homes were damaged across the state. Tens of thousands were without electricity.

Arkansas has seen seven deaths since Thursday, in Virginia the death toll was four, seven in Alabama, two in Oklahoma and one in Mississippi, according to NBC News.

Authorities in the Carolinas and Virginia warned the toll was likely to rise higher Sunday as searchers probed shattered homes and businesses.

The storms claimed its first lives Thursday night in Oklahoma, then roared through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
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