US authorities rush aid as tornadoes kill 44 persons

Raleigh (US): Federal US authorities rushed aid today to southern states after powerful tornadoes cut a path of death and destruction, killing 44 people and reducing entire towns to rubble.
Distraught residents and business owners were trying to piece their lives back together after a weekend of disaster, particularly for worst-hit North Carolina, where the toll was scaled back by one but 22 people still died.
“There are individual assistance teams going out to the counties that have had tornado damage,” emergency management spokeswoman Patty McQuillan told.
More than 30,000 homes and business were still without power in the state, where stricken families were separating out material and vegetative debris and dragging it to the nearest roadside to be picked up.
“For those people who have insurance, they will be taken care of through their insurance companies,” McQuillan said.
(AFP)