State lieutenant governor Toni Jennings told CNN television that most of the deaths so far tallied were traffic accidents or where people had been crushed by poles or had walked in a puddle of water which had a fallen power line in it.

"We may find more as we go along, as this was a devastating storm," she said.

Emergency services were searching wrecked houses for victims on Sunday.

Jennings was unable to give a figure for the number of homeless. She said there were 22 state shelters open across the state.

TERRA.WIRE