Fifty die as tornadoes sweep U.S. South

By Pat Harris

The storms crumpled trucks on highways like toys and trapped and killed people in splintered houses, factories and shops.

"The lightning and rain started back up suddenly and then we could see the funnel cloud through the lightning," she said. "The preacher's brick house across the street was destroyed and a mobile home nearby was nothing but a few pieces of tin."

The death toll rivalled that of the last large deadly outbreak in May 1999 in Oklahoma, Texas and other states, the centre said, when about 50 people were killed. Tornadoes typically kill about 70 people in the United States each year.

"We know of eight dead and are still looking," said Shelvy Linville, mayor of Lafayette, Tennessee. "There's a lot of devastation."

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear described to CNN a trail of devastation in his state seen from the air.

BUILDINGS RIPPED APART

"The mission right now is to protect the damaged homes from looting," he said.

The White House said President George W. Bush had called the governors of the affected states offering them consolation and support.

Mississippi reported no deaths but about 11 injuries after two tornadoes ripped across an industrial park, seriously damaging a Caterpillar factory, and farm communities north of the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cotton in Mississippi, Ed Stoddard in Dallas, Doina Chiacu in Washington, Michael Conlon in Chicago, Verna Gates and Peggy Gargis in Birmingham, Steve Barnes in Little Rock and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Mike Conlon; Editing by Stuart Grudgings)