The death toll from the devastating tornados that swept through the southern United States this week has risen to at least 342, making it the second-deadliest tornado outbreak in American history.
By early Saturday morning, emergency management officials tallied 254 deaths in Alabama, 34 in Tennessee, 33 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia, 5 in
Virginia and 1 in Arkansas, the CNN reported.
This is the deadliest tornado outbreak since March 1932, when 332 people were killed. The death toll is also the second-largest in the
country's history,only below that of a 1925 tornado outbreak which left 747 people dead,
according to the National Weather Service.
In the hardest-hit Alabama, the confirmed fatalities have soared to 254,according to the state Emergency Management Agency. In addition, more than 1,700 people were injured while several others still missing.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday flew to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The city, with a population of over 90,000, has lost at least 45 lives in
the storms and tornados.
"I've never seen devastation like this," said the president, "I just want to make a commitment to the communities here that we are going to do
everything we can to help these communities rebuild ... We're going to make sure you're not forgotten."
Home to the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa is now struggling to get power and water supply back to city neighbourhoods. In Alabama, up to one million homes and businesses remained without power on Friday.
Because of looting reports, Walter Maddox, mayor of Tuscaloosa, has issued a curfew order and it was still in effect Friday night from 8 p.m. to 6
a.m. Saturday morning.
Several senior administration officials will travel to Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday, including Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, according to the White House.
They will meet with families affected by the storms, as well as meet with state and local officials, while viewing damage and assessing the initial recovery efforts.
Nearly 3,000 National Guardsmen have been mobilized to support the disaster relief efforts, the Pentagon said. They were delivering tarpaulins and clearing roads after hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged.
In Alabama, Governor Robert Bentley has authorized the activation of up to 2,000 Guard members.
"We are going to continue to work in a rescue-type mode, but we are now more in a recovery mode," Bentley said during Obama's visit.
Recovery after such a catastrophe will not be easy, given the magnitude of property damage. Catastrophe modelling firm EQECAT estimated the
tornadoes could result in between 2 billion and 5 billion dollars in insurance costs.