THE Governor of the US state of Georgia declared a state of emergency in seven counties after 11 people were killed in tornado storms yesterday.

Further extreme weather was expected last night, with a severe thunderstorm and tornado outbreak forecast for across north Florida and south Georgia, with the threat also expected to extend southward into central Florida and north-eastward into South Carolina.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s office said the emergency areas included Brooks, Cook and Berrien counties in the south-central part of the state, near the Florida state line, the area in which the deaths occurred. Another 23 people were injured.

Deal said in a statement that state agencies were “making all resources available” to the affected counties”.

He added that “our thoughts and prayers are with Georgians suffering from the impact of the storm”.

The National Weather Service said south Georgia and also north Florida and parts of Alabama could still face “intense and long-track” tornadoes, with strong winds and large hailstones.

A coroner confirmed seven people died at a mobile home park in south Georgia after the storm tore through the area on yesterday morning.

Cook County coroner Tim Purvis said a tornado “levelled” numerous mobile homes before dawn in the park near Adel. He said emergency services were still searching for survivors hours later.

Purvis estimated the park has about 40 mobile homes and half of them were destroyed.

Catherine Howden, of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the death toll from severe weather in the state at 11. On Saturday, four people were killed by a tornado in Mississippi.

Some 4.8 million people live in the high-risk area, while about 38 million live in the overall area affected by bad weather.

January tornado outbreaks are rare but not unprecedented, particularly in the South. Eighteen people died in series of storms in Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee in 1999.