Sheriff says more people are missing as weather system sparks flurry of tornadoes across south-eastern US on Sunday

At least 23 people, including children as young as six, have been killed and more are missing after at least two tornadoes struck in Alabama on Sunday, causing “catastrophic” damage, a county sheriff has said.

Crews searched a trail of destruction several miles long before pausing efforts overnight as conditions became too dangerous, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said. “The challenge is the sheer volume of the debris where all the homes were located,” Jones told CNN. “It’s the most I’ve seen that I can recall.”