Twister victims were told to stay in school
At least 20 people were killed when tornadoes ripped through the southern states of America, including five high school students crushed by debris when a roof collapsed.
Early today rescuers were searching through rubble for other victims at Enterprise High School in Alabama.
See dramatic pictures of the aftermath
It is feared the number of dead will rise as rescuers search devastated homes and trailer parks.
A separate tornado killed a seven-year-old girl in Missouri. In Americus, Georgia, a tornado hit a hospital, killing two people, while twisters were reported in Kansas. The devastating winds were part of a band of storms stretching from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast.
The school in Alabama was hit at lunchtime yesterday. Student Erin Garcia, 17, said staff had gathered pupils in hallways at about 11am when the weather became too severe for them to be sent home.
"I was praying the whole time," she said. Her hallway was spared, but a roof and wall had collapsed on students in another hallway. "I kept seeing people with blood on their faces," Miss Garcia added.
Fellow student Martha Rodriquez, 15, said: "The stadium was destroyed and there were cars tipped over in the parking lot and trees were ripped out. There were trees and wood everywhere. It was horrible."
More than 50 people were taken to hospital. One person died elsewhere in the town of Enterprise and another in rural Miller's Ferry, where a separate storm wrecked mobile homes.
The seven-year-old who died in Missouri, Elizabeth Croney, was killed when a twister flattened her family's mobile home on a country road, injuring her parents and two older brothers. The twister, described as a fat black column that cut a 15-mile swathe, also destroyed a petrol station.
"It sounded like rocks being thrown against the house, it was a roaring noise," said Fran Meek, 63, whose farmhouse was untouched, although the wind knocked down a oak tree only feet away.
Alabama officials opened shelters for families whose homes were damaged and sent in 100 National Guardsmen, along with lights and generators.
Further north, the central US was hit by blizzards which shut hundreds of miles of highway. Two people were killed when their car overturned in North Dakota, and one person died shovelling snow in Nebraska.
U.S. President George W. Bush will visit areas hit by a violent storm system that spawned tornadoes in several states and struck an Alabama high school, killing eight students.
The White House said Bush would make two stops tomorrow, but his destinations were still being worked out with governors in the affected states.
