WASHINGTON – The death toll from a slew of tornadoes rose to 324 on Friday, making the terrible storms the third-deadliest outbreak of twisters in US history and the worst in nearly 80 years.
On Friday, the number of confirmed tornado-related deaths increased to 228 in Alabama; to 34 in Mississippi; and to eight in Arkansas. Aside from those three states, the twisters also left 34 dead in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, and five in Virginia, according to state officials.
That brought the total number of confirmed tornado deaths to 324 across six states.
It was the deadliest set of twisters since 332 people were killed March 21, 1932 in what is known as the Deep South tornado outbreak.
The giant Tri-State Tornado outbreak of March 1925 left 747 people dead.