Tornadoes and storms in the mid-South have killed 55 people since Tuesday evening in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States in more than 20 years.
The storms ripped apart homes and trapped residents of university dorms and a retirement home in debris.
The trail of death stretched across four states, with four people killed in Alabama, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and 31 in Tennessee.
In some cases, there was almost no warning before the severe weather hit.
James Baskin of Jackson, Tennessee, was driving a car when a twister "just picked us up and threw us," he said. 
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CNN's Saeed Ahmed, Mark Bixler and Ed Payne contributed to this report.
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