At least 11 people were killed as tornadoes ripped through Texas, according to authorities who searched house-to-house Sunday for additional victims of the freak storms lashing the southern United States.
The rare December twisters that flattened homes and caused chaos on highways raised the death toll from days of deadly weather across the South to at least 41.
The extreme weather, fueled by unseasonably warm air, is likely to continue for the next few days, the National Weather Service warned, complicating search and rescue efforts and possibly wreaking more havoc in the region.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday declared a state of emergency across four counties, including the densely populated Dallas area where several tornadoes touched down late Saturday, the day after Christmas.