Crews cleanup the debris in a neighborhood devastated by a tornado in Beauregard, Ala., Tuesday, March 5, 2019. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

BEAUREGARD, Ala. - The Latest on the impact of a tornado in Alabama and Georgia (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump has declared that a major disaster exists in Alabama and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in Lee County, where a tornado swept through and killed at least 23 people.

In a news release Tuesday, the Trump Administration said assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the disaster.

Damage assessments are continuing and more counties and additional forms of assistance may be designated after those surveys are completed.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses can begin applying for help by registering online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362).

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3:20 p.m.

The National Weather Service has confirmed at least 20 tornadoes struck across the Southeast during a deadly weekend outbreak.

Reports from the agency's survey teams say storm systems crossing the region Sunday spun off tornadoes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

The most powerful twister was an EF4 tornado packing 170 mph (275 kph) winds that's been blamed for at least 23 deaths in Lee County, Alabama. The weather service says that tornado crossed into western Georgia and travelled about 70 miles (112 kilometres) total.

The number of confirmed tornadoes could increase. Survey teams are still assessing storm damage in some areas.

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2:30 p.m.

An expert says the deadly tornado that struck Beauregard, Alabama, apparently rumbled about 70 miles (110 kilometres) across two states, ending in neighbouring Georgia. That would make it among the longest-lived tornado to touch down in Alabama.

That distance approaches the 81-mile (130-kilometre) track of a twister that killed more than 60 people and demolished much of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in a "super outbreak" of several long-lasting tornadoes across the South on April 27, 2011.

Chris Darden, a meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Birmingham, said Tuesday that the tornado that struck Beauregard last weekend continued into Georgia. His colleagues were surveying damage from Sunday's tornado, adding the final track would likely be around 70 miles (110 kilometres).

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1:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he'll visit Alabama on Friday to see the area devastated by a tornado that killed 23 people.

Trump says "it's been a tragic situation but a lot of good work is being done."

The president says he's been in regular touch with the governors of Alabama and Georgia.

The tornado that hit Sunday was the nation's deadliest in nearly six years.

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1:30 p.m.

Forecasters say it appears the deadly tornado that struck Beauregard, Alabama, rumbled about 70 miles (113 kilometres) across two states.

That would make it among the longest-lived tornadoes to touch down in Alabama.

Its distance approaches the 81-mile (130 kilometre) track of a twister that killed more than 60 people and demolished much of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in a "super outbreak" of several long-lasting tornadoes across the South on April 27, 2011.

Chris Darden, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Birmingham, said Tuesday that the tornado that struck Beauregard continued into Georgia, where his colleagues were surveying damage in that state and that the final track would likely be around 70 miles (113 kilometres).

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1:05 p.m.

Death and loss have left grievous marks on the neighbourhood surrounding what remains of a Beauregard, Alabama, woman's mobile home after Sunday's deadly tornado.

Cindy Sanford said one of her neighbours was found dead on the main highway that runs through the community, and the 6-year-old grandson of her work supervisor was killed across a hill a few hundred yards away. And she said another neighbour is among the missing.

As Sanford picked through remains of her home, she said, "I pray to God that they find her." Sanford's home tumbled in the wind and is now scattered across neighbours' land.

Sanford said she left home with her 14-year-old grandson about five minutes before the storm struck after getting a feeling that it was unsafe to remain.

The storm killed at least 23 people in southeastern Alabama.

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12:05 p.m.

Authorities say most of the 90 people injured in the tornado that tore through Beauregard, Alabama, have been released from a hospital.

A spokeswoman for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital told The Associated Press on Tuesday that seven patients remain hospitalized there.

About 60 people injured by the tornado were taken to East Alabama Medical Center in nearby Opelika, Alabama. That hospital has said in a statement that only four of them remained hospitalized as of Monday.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said that some patients were sent to hospitals elsewhere, including Columbus, Georgia, but details on those patients were not immediately known Tuesday.

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11:15 a.m.

The sound of chain saws and heavy equipment is in the air in Beauregard, Alabama, which got the worst of the tornadoes sweeping across the Southeast this weekend.

Church chaplain Ike Mathews is checking on emergency workers and members of his congregation as he walks a road lined with broken trees and pieces of homes. Mathews says the people who have found the bodies of some of the 23 victims are hurting, and the whole community is torn up.

He says many who living in the area are senior citizens who retired from textile mills or an factory nearby, and were hoping to leave their homes to their grandchildren. Now those properties are destroyed.

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10:30 a.m.

An Alabama coroner says all 23 people found dead after a tornado have been identified and their bodies have been released to funeral homes. He said their ages range from 6 to 93, and that one family alone lost seven people.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris says other coroners and funeral homes from around the state are pitching in to help prepare the victims for funerals.

Sheriff Jay Jones says "a lot of heavy equipment is coming in to pick up big portions of debris" in specific pockets of Beauregard where the search for more victims is now focused.

He says those areas are narrowed down from a broad spectrum to certain areas where there may be people or animals, and that they hope to transition from search-and-rescue to recovery later Tuesday. He said the number of missing people has narrowed from dozens to just "seven or eight."

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9:50 a.m.

Government teams surveying storm damage across the Southeast have confirmed that at least 18 tornadoes struck in a deadly weekend outbreak.

The National Weather Service says storm systems crossing the region Sunday spun off tornadoes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina alone.

The most powerful twister was an EF4 tornado packing 170 mph (274 kph) winds that's been blamed for at least 23 deaths in Lee County, Alabama. The weather service says that tornado crossed into western Georgia and inflicted more damage.

The number of confirmed tornadoes could increase. Survey teams are still assessing storm damage in some areas.

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9:20 a.m.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones says the search for tornado victims is still active, with the crews now looking at a smaller area and specific piles of wreckage.

The sheriff said Tuesday that the list of unaccounted people is down to seven or eight.

He says law enforcement teams are working the area by foot with the help of cadaver-sniffing dogs and also searching by air. In one hard-hit area, a small excavator turned over pieces of splintered homes and trees, which firefighters then searched for signs of potential victims.

Jones says authorities are contacting family and friends of the missing to confirm their status, since some of those unaccounted-for may have checked in but not with authorities.

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7:50 a.m.

Forecasters say 90 people were injured in the tornado that also killed at least 23 people in the small community of Beauregard, Alabama.

The number of injured comes in a Tuesday report from the National Weather Service, forecasters say the tornado's damage path was nine-tenths of a mile (1.4 kilometres) wide and kept gaining intensity before slamming into Beauregard, Alabama.

Survey crews from the weather service documented how the deadly twister shredded manufactured homes, emptying their contents into the woods.

Forecasters said in the report that the tornado was strong enough to bend the frame of a car around what remained of a large tree. Based on the damage, they've determined that it was EF-4 tornado with 170 mph (274 kph) winds.

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12:40 a.m.

Residents of a small Alabama community hit by a powerful tornado are mourning the deaths of 23 people as they pick through shattered homes for salvageable belongings and crews search for more victims.

Carol Dean found her wedding dress Monday among the wreckage of her mobile home in Beauregard. But the storm took her husband. She said: "My life is gone."

Dean said her spouse, 53-year-old David Wayne Dean, was killed Sunday when the twister struck their home while she was at work. She said he had been texting a friend to beware of the approaching storm.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones says crews with dogs and drones have combed over the hardest-hit areas, but there's more searching to be done.

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The item that moved at 1:05 p.m. has been corrected to show the grandson's age is 14, not 5.

News from © The Associated Press, 2019