(Corrects 10th paragraph to reflect updated death toll in Tennessee)
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Tornadoes and thunderstorms flattened the land and shattered lives across the U.S. South on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 54 people and injuring more than 150 in the deadliest such storms in nine years.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said he was shocked by the intensity and scope of a storm that "just literally sat on the ground in wide areas" along a track that was as much as 400 miles (643 km) wide.
President George W. Bush will travel to Tennessee on Friday to survey the storm damage and offer his support to those affected, said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.
"We all huddled in the bathroom," Martin said of his wife, mother-in-law and other family members. "I was standing at first at the front door when I heard it ... The Lord was with us."
The death toll rivalled that of a series of tornadoes in May 1999 in Oklahoma, Texas and other states, when about 50 people were killed, the center said. Tornadoes typically kill about 70 people in the United States each year.
The weather service and state officials said that in addition to the 30 killed in Tennessee, there were 13 dead in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and four in Alabama. Injuries were widespread, with 149 people hurt in Tennessee alone.
Power outages were widespread. One tornado struck the Columbia Gulf Transmission company in Hartsville, Tennessee, and set off a natural gas fire that lit up the early morning sky, officials said.
"In the path of it there is nothing left and on either side of it things are standing just like nothing has happened. It's an amazing picture to see."
In Alabama, Tina Johnson, 41, of Pinhook, said she watched from her house as a tornado tore apart her barn.
Kentucky National Guard spokesman David Altom said about 50 soldiers were deployed and others on stand-by. "The mission right now is to protect the damaged homes from looting," he said.
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 Jackson, Tenn. Ed Stoddard in Dallas, Doina Chiacu in Washington, Michael Conlon in Chicago, Verna Gates and Peggy Gargis in Birmingham, Steve Barnes in Atkins, Ark. and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Mike Conlon; editing by Chris Wilson and Cynthia Osterman)
