In the United States, the death toll from the worst tornadoes and and storms in decades today rose to at least 313. The devastating tornado has carved a trail of destruction across the south-east. In Alabama, the worst-hit state, the toll reached 210, with more than 1,700 injured and up to a million people left without power. According to state officials the overall toll includes 34 people in Tennessee, 33 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia and 13 in Arkansas. The other fatalities were spread across Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky. US President Barrack Obama and First Lady Michelle were to travel to the state today for a first-hand look at a still unfolding human tragedy. Obama has declared a major disaster in Alabama and ordered federal aid to assist state and local recovery efforts. States of emergency were declared from central Oklahoma to Georgia on the eastern seaboard, and governors called out the National Guard – including 2,000 troops in Alabama – to help with the rescue and clean-up operations. The tornado disaster is already the fourth worst on record in the United States and when the final toll is known it may only be surpassed by the giant Tri-State Tornado of March 1925, which left 747 people dead.