The death toll from severe storms that punished five Southern U.S. states jumped to a staggering 194 Thursday after Alabama canvassed its hard-hit counties for a new tally of lives lost.

The fierce storms Wednesday spawned tornadoes and winds that wiped out homes and businesses, forced a nuclear power plant to use backup generators, and prompted the evacuation of a National Weather Service office.

Watch Video of the Tornado's Destruction

Alabama's state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 128 deaths, up from at least 61 earlier.

Alabama Tornado Map Mississippi officials reported 32 dead in that state and Tennessee raised its report to 14. Another 11 have been killed in Georgia and eight in Virginia.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it received 137 tornado reports around the regions, including 66 in Alabama and 38 in Mississippi.

One of the hardest-hit areas was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. The city's police and other emergency services were devastated, the mayor said, and at least 15 people were killed and about 100 were in a single hospital.

A massive tornado, caught on video by a news camera on a tower, barreled through the city late Wednesday afternoon, leveling it.

"What we faced today was massive damage on a scale we have not seen in Tuscaloosa in quite some time," Mayor Walter Maddox said.

The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant about 30 miles west of Huntsville lost offsite power. The Tennessee Valley Authority-owned plant had to use seven diesel generators to power the plant's three units. The safety systems operated as needed and the emergency event was classified as the lowest of four levels, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

Photos of the utter destruction begin below and continue on the following pages.

Tuscaloosa Tornado April 27, 2011

A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Ala. Wednesday, April 27, 2011. A wave of severe storms laced with tornadoes strafed the South on Wednesday, killing at hundreds and splintering buildings across swaths of the Alabama university town. (AP Photo/The Tuscaloosa News, Dusty Compton)

Special Reports /

Hundreds Dead As Tornadoes Raze Tuscaloosa, Sweep Across Southern States

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