Searches to resume after tornado kills 23 in Alabama

Authorities plan to resume an intense ground search Monday amid devastation from a deadly tornado that rampaged through southeast Alabama, killing at least 23 people.

The Sunday tornado was part of a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

The number of deaths in hard-hit Lee County was so high that coroner Bill Harris told The Associated Press he had to call in help from the state because there were more bodies than his four-person office can handle.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones says drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday.

Jones said the twister traveled straight down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard.