Tornado toll: 26 dead and counting

A second round of tornadoes that barreled through the South on Monday brought the death toll at least 26 from two days of severe weather in the middle of America. Nine people were reported dead in Mississippi and Alabama, according to the Associated Press.

Thirty tornadoes were reported Sunday night and early Monday in seven states, killing at least 16 people, according to USA Today.

A half-mile wide twister carved an 80-mile path of destruction through the suburbs of Little Rock, Ark. After an initial death toll of 16 was reported, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe’s office revised the count to 14 on Monday, according to Arkansas Business.

“Sadly, we don't expect it to stay at 14," Beebe said. 

That includes at least 10 people who were killed in the small central Arkansas community of Vilonia, north of Little Rock, by a huge twister that ripped homes from foundations and flipped cars.

"It's chaos here," James Firestone, mayor of Vilonia, told CNN. "Our downtown area seems like it's completely leveled."

Among the ruins is a new $14 million intermediate school in Vilonia that was set to open this fall.

The tornado that hit Vilonia and nearby Mayflower would likely be rated as the nation's strongest twister to date this year, as it has the potential to be at least an EF3 storm with winds greater than 136 mph, according to the National Weather Service.


Read more from the Associated Press.

View aerial video of Mayflower, Ark., at Arkansas Business.