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After hitting Florida, the storm continued on a deadly path north into Georgia – leaving at least 15 dead – including a first responder, Governor Brian Kemp said.
A suspected tornado that spurred in Wheeler County, in central Georgia, left two people dead when the twister picked up and overturned a mobile home, authorities said.
Kemp ordered 1,000 National Guard troops to help with rescue efforts across the state. The Georgia governor said Friday that more than 150 roads have been closed, 1,300 traffic signals are out across the state and people are still trapped in buildings.
In South Carolina, at least 17 people were killed, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. Neighbouring North Carolina saw at least two fatalities in the storm, one due to a vehicle collision and another when a tree fell on a home in Charlotte, Governor Roy Cooper said.
The state also saw two confirmed tornadoes, which damaged 11 buildings and injured 15 people, the National Service said.
One person was also killed in Virginia, the state’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, said at a news conference on Friday.
Across the southeast, more than three million homes and businesses were without power late Friday, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.
First responders have been tackling rescues, using helicopters, boats and large vehicles to help people stranded in flooded homes. In North Carolina alone, more than 100 rescues have taken place, Cooper said.
In Tennessee, 58 patients and staff were left stranded on the roof of a hospital in the city of Erwin on Friday. Swift-moving water from the Nolichucky River prevented boats from being able to conduct rescue operations, and high winds prevented helicopter rescue.
The group was later taken to safety after helicopters from the Tennessee National Guard and the Virginia State Police intervened.
In Pasco County, north of Tampa on Florida’s Gulf coast, 65 people were rescued. Guests at a Ramada Inn in Manatee County were also rescued as floodwaters rushed into the hotel.
And in Suwannee County to the north, authorities reported “extreme destruction”, with trees falling onto homes.
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