![APTOPIX Severe Weather Constance Lambert embraces her dog after finding it alive when returning to her destroyed home in Tupelo, Miss., April 28, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-united-states-mississippi.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
Updated 4:58 p.m. ET
At least 16 people were killed Monday as deadly tornadoes ripped through sections of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, bringing the death toll for the storm system that hit the Midwest earlier in the week to 35.
The dangerous weather was headed toward Georgia early Tuesday, after having flattened buildings in towns throughout the region, and Governor Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency.
“For about 30 seconds, it was unbelievable,” said Mississippi state Sen. Giles Ward, whose Louisville home was destroyed in the storm while he huddled in a bathroom with his wife, four kids and dog. “It’s about as awful as anything we’ve gone through.”
The storm system rumbling east across the country has slammed a huge swath of territory with dangerous weather, from Iowa south to Oklahoma and into Arkansas, which alone saw 15 deaths. An estimated 11 tornadoes hit the central U.S. Sunday and 25 ravaged the South Monday, according to a preliminary count from the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.
The storm reserved its most severe weather for Mississippi and Alabama. At least 45 injuries and six deaths were reported in Winston County, Miss., on Monday. One was a woman who died in the day care center she operated in Louisville, though it remained unclear if there were children in the center when the storm hit.
In Tupelo, Miss., every building in a two-block area was damaged when a tornado ravaged the town of about 35,000. Limestone County, Ala., suffered severe damage in the storm, which knocked out power to nearly 12,000 and killed two when a twister hit a trailer park in the small community of Coxey.
Power was out for tens of thousands of customers in the region and road crews worked to clear debris from streets Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.
Photos: Tornadoes Tear Through the South
![An upturned truck lies under tree that has lost most of its branches, following tornado near Vilonia, Arkansas, at sunset Arkansas Tornado Damage 01](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![COMMERCIAL APPEAL Arkansas Tornado Damage 02](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![BESTPIX - Widespread Damage And Casualties After Tornadoes Rip Through Arkansas Arkansas Tornado Damage 03](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Widespread Damage And Casualties After Tornadoes Rip Through South Arkansas Tornado Damage 04](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Severe Weather Arkansas Tornado Damage 05](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rescue workers and volunteers stand amid debris of homes one day after they were destroyed by tornado in Vilonia, Arkansas Arkansas Tornado Damage 06](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Aerial view of central town after tornado hit Vilonia, Arkansas Arkansas Tornado Damage 07](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![A resident makes his way down Jackson Street and away from the tornado damaged area in Tupelo Mississippi Arkansas Tornado Damage 08](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![COMMERCIAL APPEAL Arkansas Tornado Damage 09](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Destiny Dimmons Arkansas Tornado Damage 09](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-010.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Widespread Damage And Casualties After Tornadoes Rip Through South Arkansas Tornado Damage 010](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-011.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Men use boards as paddles as they search though the debris of what is left of homes in a lake in the town of Vilonia Arkansas Tornado Damage 011](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-012.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![APTOPIX Severe Weather Alabama Arkansas Alabama Tornado Damage 012](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-013.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Uprooted trees are pictured after a tornado hit Vilonia, Arkansas Arkansas Tornado Damage 013](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/tornado-arkansas-014.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
[AP]
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