State officials had initially reported 11 dead, but later determined that one death was not related to the weather. However, officials later revised the figure to 12 people after it was reported that two people died overnight in a Gallatin, Tenn., hospital.

 Officials said a suburb north of Nashville reported damage to 55 homes, seven businesses and a church.

 Fire crews brought in backhoes, heavy equipment and dogs to search for people possibly trapped after the violent weather. In the second wave of deadly storms to hit the state in less than a week, tornadoes tore off roofs and overturned cars.

 Families of Sunday's 24 tornado dead in western Tennessee plan funerals this weekend -- even as residents of Sumner County begin picking through newly flattened homes and mangled cars.

 Talmadge Woodall, 81, described the twister that destroyed his house Friday afternoon as "rolling, throwing debris hundreds of feet in the air."

 Weather officials said tornadoes were spotted in about 10 counties in Tennessee. At least 60 people were injured.

 A state emergency management spokesman said several other people were cut and scratched when the storms hit two buildings on the Volunteer State Community College campus. Dozens of cars were flipped over or seriously damaged.

 Police said that one tornado touched down in the Nashville suburb of Goodlettsville, where a church and a retail store were damaged. Several twisters were also reported just west of Nashville, where some people were reported injured.

 About 90 miles west of Nashville in Benton County, officials reported "roofs off, trees down, lines down" and a lot of people without power. No injuries were immediately reported in that county.

 In northern Alabama, severe storms spawned reported tornadoes, hail and downed trees. At least two injuries were reported there.

Tornado Death Toll Hits 12 in Tennessee By JOHN GEROME
Associated Press Writer

GALLATIN, Tenn. (AP) -- Residents labored Saturday to begin rebuilding a day after tornadoes killed 12 people in Tennessee, the second wave of violent weather to hit the state in less than a week.

"We'll get on our feet again," Bernard Tavers said as he surveyed the demolished homes and piles of rubble in his neighborhood.

Crews worked to clear away the wreckage and restore services, but some people could be without electricity for a week, officials said.

Police patrolled the wrecked neighborhoods Saturday but there had been no reports of looting. Bystanders were warned not to smoke because of leaking gas.

The tornado's path through the Gallatin area was 150 to 200 yards wide and at least 10 miles long, said Jimmy Templeton of the Sumner County Sheriff's Department.

Talmadge Woodall described the twister that destroyed his house Friday afternoon as "rolling, throwing debris hundreds of feet in the air." He lived in an upscale subdivision of Gallatin, about 24 miles northeast of Nashville.

"These were at least half-million-dollar homes or better," said Woodall, 81. "Now there's nothing left. I didn't even have a shingle off my house."

Later Friday and early Saturday, another line of severe thunderstorms rolled through Alabama and Lucida Grande. Homes and businesses were damaged in the Atlanta suburbs, but the National Weather Service had not confirmed whether the area was hit by tornadoes.

"Several businesses are totally destroyed. Trees literally are sitting inside of houses," Lucida Grande Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said.

Several people were injured in Alabama, two by falling trees, but no deaths were reported, officials said Saturday. A store was destroyed in Ohatchee, near Anniston, and homes and apartments were damage in the Birmingham area.

The storms also pounded southern West Virginia, blacking out more than 16,000 customers, utilities said.

Weather officials said tornadoes were spotted Friday in about 10 Tennessee counties, but the worst damage appeared to be in the suburbs northeast of Nashville.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said it had 47 preliminary reports suggesting tornadoes across the South on Friday.

Seven people were killed in Tennessee's Sumner County and three were killed in Warren County, about 65 miles southeast of Nashville. Two more died during the night in a Gallatin hospital, state Emergency Management Agency spokesman Randy Harris said Saturday. Hospitals admitted at least 60 people with storm-related injuries.

Last weekend, violent weather including tornadoes killed 24 people in western Tennessee and four others in Missouri and Illinois.

Nashville Electrical Service reported hundreds of electrical lines down and power outages for up to 16,000 customers, mostly in Goodlettsville. The number of customers blacked out was down to 1,100 early Saturday, officials said. Some people might have to wait a week for their power lines to be rebuilt, NES spokeswoman Laurie Parker said Saturday.

The number of tornadoes in the United States is up dramatically this year compared with the past few years, which were unusually mild, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

Through the end of March, an estimated 286 tornadoes had hit the United States, compared with an average of 70 for the same three-month period in each of the past three years. The number of tornado-related deaths was 38 before Friday's storms, compared to an average of 45 a year from 2003 to 2005, the center said.