US rescue teams are racing to locate dozens of people after tornadoes devastated towns across Kentucky, with at least 64 confirmed deaths.
At least 105 people remain unaccounted for, leaving many families still awaiting news of loved ones.
Governor Andy Beshear said there would undoubtedly be further deaths confirmed in the coming days.
No-one has been found alive since Saturday morning, but search efforts have been continuing.
Emergency workers, including 300 members of the National Guard, have been scouring debris for survivors and distributing water and generators to residents.
Mr Beshear said dogs were also being used to help search through rubble, adding that “we’re still finding bodies” in some locations.
“Nothing that was standing in the direct line of [one] tornado is still standing,” the governor said. “The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life.”
A resident in the town of Mayfield, one of the areas worst-hit, said he had “dropped down to my knees and covered my head” when the tornado hit.
“My ears popped, and debris started coming through the doorway,” Rick Foley, 70, told Reuters, adding: “It was gone in 30 seconds.”
Another Mayfield resident, David Norseworthy, said the storm ripped the roof of his property clean off and destroyed his porch as his family hid in a shelter.
“We never had anything like that here,” the 69-year-old told AFP news agency.
Elsewhere in the town, eight deaths were confirmed at a candle factory, where 110 employees were feared to have been trapped inside at the time. Others were reported missing.
Later, the governor said the factory’s owner believed more of the workers had been located and were safe.
Kyanna Parsons Perez, a factory worker who made a desperate plea for help on Facebook from under the wreckage, told the BBC that other businesses had shut down for the storm and staff there should not have been at work.
Mr Beshear said a tornado had wrecked places all along its 227-mile (365km) path. Thousands of people had their homes destroyed – but the exact number was still not clear.
Meanwhile, at least 13 deaths have been reported in four other US states.
In Illinois, six people were killed in a collapsed Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville and more were still missing. –AFP/Reuters/BBC
