BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Storms spawning deadly tornados flattened buildings, overturned vehicles and knocked out power lines on Wednesday as they tore through central and southern United States, raising the death toll from severe weather to at least 200.

States of emergency were declared in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and governors called out the National Guard to help with rescue and cleanup operations.

The National Weather Service had preliminary reports of more than 110 tornado touchdowns on Wednesday and Thursday.

Especially hard-hit was the southern state of Alabama, hit by two lines of storms, one in the morning and one in the evening.

The storms killed at least 25 people in Alabama over the past 24 hours, Yasamie August with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency said on Thursday. The toll was up from six killed that state officials reported earlier.

An evening tornado tore through the city of Tuscaloosa, and the city "has been majorly impacted", August said.

"We're still trying to assess how bad the damage is," said August, adding that the local EMA office was among the buildings struck.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox told CNN that the tornado "obliterated blocks and blocks" of his city.

"My wife and I were watching the weather coverage until the monster was right up on us," Tuscaloosa resident Will Nevin told The Birmingham News, the local newspaper.

"Then it was the mad dash to the bathroom where the lights flickered, pulsed and finally gave up. Even on the ground floor of our two-story apartment building, we could hear the wildness above us."

A tornado also struck the city of Birmingham, and officials were still assessing the damage, August said.

"This has been a very serious and deadly event that's affected our state, and it's not over yet," Alabama Governor Robert Brantley told reporters after the second string of storms.

Some 74 tornadoes were reported on Wednesday, and there have been hundreds of reports of wind and hail damage, the national weather service said.

The NWS issued a rare "high-risk" warning of tornadoes, hail, flash flooding and dangerous lightning for parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and warned that severe weather could also strike 21 states from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf Coast and across to the Atlantic.

Storm victims across the region were trapped in homes, trailers and cars by falling trees. Hail the size of golf balls cracked windows.

Roads were washed out or rendered impassable by fallen trees and power lines across the region. Homes, schools and businesses were flattened, flooded and set on fire by lightning.

"Our citizens have endured days of consecutive severe storms and flooding," said Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear.

"We stand ready to assist any community in need, and we urge Kentuckians to remain on alert until this storm system finally passes."

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Missouri after levees failed to hold back swollen rivers.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 04/29/2011 page12)