JUDY WOODRUFF: In Alabama and Georgia, survivors of deadly tornadoes are now facing a future of rebuilding. They awoke today to heavy damage and the loss of six lives. Amna Nawaz has our report.
AMNA NAWAZ: Devastation across the South this morning, downed power lines, gutted forests, and homes eviscerated, the aftermath of a series of powerful tornadoes that wreaked havoc last night, including in Georgia.
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): Tragic day yesterday and early into this morning. We have severe damage in many counties across the state. Roughly 2:00 a.m. last night, I issued a state of emergency.
AMNA NAWAZ: One tornado struck just after midnight in the city of Newnan, some 40 miles southwest of Atlanta.
MAN: All of the sudden, it got still. It just got extremely dark. And you could hear the sound, the sound like a freight train that was coming. You could just hear the windows shaking, and things blowing against the front door, and your ears are popping. And we just stayed there until it got quiet again.
AMNA NAWAZ: In Alabama, more severe damage and fatalities, including three people from the same family. Multiple twisters, as many as eight, touched down across the state yesterday.
MAN: Holy cow!
AMNA NAWAZ: Authorities said a single tornado carved across more than 100 miles.
MARY ROSE DEARMAN, Alabama: It was just a roaring. It was no train whistle. It was a roaring. House started shaking.
AMNA NAWAZ: In Birmingham, Mary Rose DeArman and her husband took shelter in their basement, up until their roof caved in.
MARY ROSE DEARMAN: I'm not worried about this. The only thing I was worried about, we came out of it alive.
AMNA NAWAZ: They escaped when neighbors arrived with ladders to pull them out. The storms knocked out power for more than 35,000 customers in Alabama. And the chaos stretched further on, with thunderstorms and flooding reported in North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz.