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BEAUREGARD, Ala. (AP) -- A sheriff says the death toll is now at 22 from an apparent tornado that devastated an Alabama community.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told The Associated Press late Sunday evening that children are among the dead. He says it's possible the death toll could continue to rise, but authorities are pausing search efforts overnight because conditions are too dangerous in the dark due to massive amounts of debris.
Jones says search and rescue teams will resume their work at first light. He added that some single-family homes are wiped clean to a slab. He has said earlier there were injuries but had no specific account of those or their severity. Authorities have blocked off the area.
The storm was one of several possible tornadoes or confirmed twisters in an outbreak springing from a severe weather front that lashed the Southeast on Sunday. Dozens of emergency responders rushed to join search and rescue efforts in hard-hit Lee County, Alabama, after what forecasters said they think was a large tornado touched down Sunday afternoon, unleashed by a powerful storm system that raked its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
Jones said the twister traveled straight down a key local artery, Highway 51, and that the path of damage and destruction appeared at least a half mile wide.
Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham, Alabama, office of the National Weather Service. Beauregard is a community about 60 miles east of Montgomery, Alabama's capital city.
"It appears it stayed on the ground for at least a mile and maybe longer," Jones told AP. He said single-family homes and mobile homes were among the buildings destroyed. He had told reporters earlier that several people in the county were taken to hospitals, some with "very serious injuries."
After nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard. Two sheriff's vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared out to be out in many places.
Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out early Monday to assess those and other storms.
The threat of severe weather continued into the late-night hours.