Officials overseeing the disaster response to a tornado-stricken community in Alabama say all people reported missing have been accounted for with no increase in the death toll.
Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told a news conference Wednesday that the death toll stands at 23, but his office is “in standby mode on the outside chance they find somebody else, which is not likely.”
Sheriff Jay Jones said the disaster response will now shift to recovery following two full days of searching.
Officials say a powerful EF4 tornado, cutting a path of destruction nearly a mile wide, caused the devastation Sunday in rural Beauregard, Alabama.
Government survey teams have confirmed at least 34 tornadoes struck the Southeast in the deadly weekend outbreak that devastated a rural community in Alabama.
The National Weather Service says a violent storm system Sunday spawned at least 11 twisters in Alabama and 14 more across Georgia.
Five tornadoes have been confirmed in Florida, and four more in South Carolina.
The most powerful was an EF4 tornado blamed for killing 23 people in Beauregard, Alabama, as it traveled roughly 70 miles (112 kilometers) on a path that also left a trail of destruction in western Georgia.
(Associated Press, copyright 2018)
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