Southern tornado outbreak nation's deadliest in 86 years

Death toll from South's latest tornado outbreak climbs to 340Deadliest single day from tornadoes was in 1925 when 747 people diedAlabama death toll rises to at least 252Funerals for University of Alabama students killed by storms start this weekend

(CNN) -- As emergency responders continued to tally the dead on Saturday, surviving family members and friends prepared to bury loved ones who perished in what has become the second deadliest single-day tornado outbreak in U.S. history.

Among the victims for whom memorial services are planned in the coming days are three students of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The area has emerged as the focal point for the Wednesday disaster that swept through six southern states and killed 340 people.

According to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, at least 45 people people died during the storms in Tuscaloosa County, more than in any of the other five southern states that recorded deaths from Wednesday's violent weather.

By early Saturday morning, emergency management officials tallied 252 deaths in Alabama, 34 in Tennessee, 33 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia, 5 in Virginia and 1 in Arkansas.

Since 1680, there has been only one other date in U.S. history on which more people died during a severe weather outbreak, according to weather experts.

On March 18, 1925, a severe storm system swept across seven states killing 747 people, according to the National Weather Service.

President Barack Obama visited Tuscaloosa on Friday. His motorcade passed street after street of homes reduced to splinters, crushed and flipped cars, and widespread debris on the way to his first stop to visit with families affected by the storms.

"I've got to say I've never seen devastation like this," Obama told reporters.

University of Alabama graduate student Arefeen Shamsuzzoha had a similar reaction after he toured much of the city on Friday taking photographs of the damage.

"The trees are completely stripped of all of their branches," Shamsuzzoha told CNN Saturday morning. "The ones that are standing just look like sticks rising from the ground."

Hundreds of people are unaccounted for in Tuscaloosa, though not all have been officially reported missing.

The University of Alabama student newspaper, The Crimson White, began tallying e-mails from students who were searching for missing friends. Within hours, the newspaper had received 68 e-mails from worried students.

Those who survived the disaster thanked God or simple luck.

Gar and Nettie Blume, husband and wife attorneys, were leaving the office Wednesday evening when the storms struck.

"We felt the pressure and heard the window implode," Gar Blume told CNN. "And the next thing we knew we had debris falling on us."

Added Nettie Blume, "We were just really lucky that the one place the roof fell off and didn't have something covering (us) was where we were. Everywhere else we would have been buried and waiting ... or dead."

Terry Nicholson, a nearby resident, pulled the Blumes out of the rubble. The only reason he survived -- and his house was still standing -- was divine intervention, he said.

"Everything was laid down and we were still standing," Nicholson said.. "It had to be my God."

CNN's Sarah Hoye contributed to this report.

CNN

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.