YAZOO CITY, Miss. - We are learning more about that violent string of tornados that ripped through the southeast this weekend.
The storm system is being blamed for at least 12 deaths and dozens of injuries.
Hundreds more have been pushed from their homes.
The most severe damage was in Yazoo City, Mississippi.
The damage s overwhelming and stretches for miles.
And as the difficult task of clean-up and recovery begins a second day we are getting a better picture of the magnitude of the storm.
The earliest pictures from the scene show the intensity.
Two days later we're now learning more about the magnitude of the storm that ripped through Yazoo City.
The National Weather Service has classified the tornado as a severe, EF-4 with winds of 170 miles an hour.
Experts believe the twister was nearly 2 miles wide, and more than three times the size of a typical tornado.
"There is a tremendous amount of devastation here. Lots and lots of homes as well as some businesses," said Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.
Including the Hillcrest Baptist Church Dale Thrasher was inside when the storm hit.
Initially he rushed to the kitchen for shelter but says something pushed him to the chapel and under the communion table instead.
"If you look in the center of the church where that table and I were everything else was destroyed and moved around except for me and that table," Thrasher said.
As the focus now shifts to the clean-up most are finding very little left from their lives before the storm.
Still in the rubble they are uncovering a spirit of survival.
"Everybody's pitching in and neighbors and friends to come together. It's just amazing. We'll rebuild, we'll carry on," said survivor Binny Weeks.
But with so many pieces, the recovery will be difficult and in the hardest areas will continue for a long time.
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