Over 200 die in U.S., Morocco storm, explosion

THE death toll from severe storms in five southern United States (U.S.) states has risen to a staggering 200.Alabamas state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 128 deaths, up from at least 61 earlier.We expect that toll, unfortunately, to rise, Gov. Robert Bentley yesterday told ABCs Good Morning America.Also, an explosion hit a cafe popular among foreign tourists in the Moroccan city of Marrakech yesterday, leaving several dead and injured, the state news agency said.A telephone operator at the local emergency services said the explosion appeared to have been caused by a concentration of gas in the basement of the building. The operator was not authorised to speak to the media. He also declined to give the number of casualties, saying emergency teams were still at the site.Mississippi officials reported 32 dead in that state and Tennessee raised its report to six from one. Another 11 have been killed in Georgia and one in Virginia.The fierce storms on 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.The National Weather Services Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma, 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 citys 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.By nightfall, the city was dark. Roads were impassable. Signs were blown down in front of restaurants, businesses were unrecognizable and sirens wailed off and on. Debris littered the streets and sidewalks.College students in a commercial district near campus used flashlights to check out the damage.
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