Janet Clark stands in front of her home on Sunday, March 4, where she rode out Friday's EF4 tornado in Henryville, Indiana.
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West Liberty, Kentucky (CNN) -- With dozens dead and scores of buildings reduced to rubble, residents of the Midwest and South on Sunday were assessing the damage that a series of vicious twisters left behind last week.
By the time the powerful storm system faded, 39 were dead: 21 in Kentucky, 13 in Indiana, three in Ohio and one each in Alabama and Georgia.
Alabama town struck twice in one year
"The damage I saw yesterday was the worst I've seen. ... It was a war zone, debris everywhere, buildings destroyed, other buildings just the walls standing, roofs gone. It was a terrible sight," Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear told reporters, describing his visit to the tornado-ravaged town of West Liberty.
On Sunday, nearly all that remained of Rose May's West Liberty house was a pile of broken wooden beams in a parking lot across the street. Nearby, scattered cinder blocks surrounded the basement area where Doris Shuck took shelter from the tornado.
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"I feel blessed. I think the Lord protected me and let me get out of it alive, and I'm thankful for that," she said.
Shuck said she emerged to devastation after the deafening storm ripped through the Kentucky town.
"I could hear people crying and asking for help," she said as she picked through what was left of her house Sunday.
Many miles and many states away, others described similar scenes.
Tall, once-sturdy trees littered the ground. Bright yellow school buses lay smashed into buildings. Garbage bins and wooden beams, which had flown through the air like jet airliners, resurfaced hundreds of yards away.
"It's like a bomb went off and everything is splintered, bricks are down and trees, and (there's) just a lot of debris," Ohio Gov. John Kasich said after visits to Moscow and Bethel.
On Sunday, the focus turned to caring for survivors whose lives were turned upside down by the storm.
Beshear told reporters he was requesting an expedited disaster declaration from President Barack Obama.
Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were scheduled to begin damage assessments in Kentucky on Monday, he said.
Meanwhile, state officials were preparing as forecasters predicted rain and snow would hit parts of Kentucky on Sunday night, Beshear said.
"We have made sure that the shelters are open. ... There's obviously food and clothing and warmth in those shelters (for tornado victims)," he said.
The tornado outbreak began Friday and extended into the next day, affecting millions of people from Indiana to Georgia. The National Weather Service has confirmed that at least 42 tornadoes swept across 10 states on Friday.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said the destruction left authorities there with "no idea how many people are left homeless."
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More than 400 National Guard troops were deployed in Kentucky, while 250 more were dispatched in Indiana, according to state officials.
In Henryville, Indiana, about 20 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky, an EF-4 tornado -- with sustained winds of between 166 mph and 200 mph, putting it in the top 2% of tornadoes in terms of its strength -- struck a school complex.
National Weather Service meteorologists said it was one of two tornadoes that hit the town, crediting the early dismissal of students with preventing more fatalities. The 40 students who had remained and huddled in an office area survived the storm, elementary school principal Glenn Riggs said.
But the storm destroyed schools, homes and businesses, leaving many parts of the town unrecognizable, Kevin Welz told CNN's iReport.
"It is something you would expect to see in an end-of-the-world movie," he said.
Pamela Rawlings described how her parents rushed to the middle of their one-story Henryville home for safety. After a tornado ripped through, a neighbor found the long-time couple about 30 feet apart -- with Pamela's 64-year-old father, Wayne Hunter, discovered dead and her mother, Lenora, bloodied but alive.
A toddler who had survived the storm in Salem, about 20 miles west of Henryville, died Sunday afternoon after family members took her off life support, Jefferson County Coroner Bob Jones said.
Tiny symbol of tornado survival dies
The 14-month-old girl had been in critical condition, surrounded by extended family members at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, said hospital spokesman Brian Rublein. Her immediate family -- including her parents, 3-year-old brother and 2-month-old sister -- were all killed in the storm.
In addition to the dead, hospitals continued to treat scores suffering from major trauma to minor injuries related to sudden ferocious spurts of high winds, powerful hail and drenching rains.
Obama offered his condolences and federal assistance if needed to the governors of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, the White House said in a statement.
Residents and officials across the tornado-damaged areas said they were committed to rebuilding their communities.
"We're knocked down, but we're not knocked out," said Kasich, the Ohio governor. "We're going to get through it."
Beshear said residents in West Liberty and other parts of his state were showing their resilience.
"It's going to be a long, long time to get that town back on its feet, but somehow or another I know they'll want to do it, I know they will do it, and we're going to help them do it," he said.
CNN's Jim Spellman, Jacqui Jeras, Chris Dignam, Joe Sutton, Susan Candiotti, Athena Jones, Eric Marrapodi, Moni Basu, Melanie Whitley, Kara Devlin, Maria P. White, Miguel Susana, Greg Botelho and Nicole Saidi contributed to this report.
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Debris from the violent tornado remains scattered around a Henryville home on Sunday.
Troy Lewis cuts up a tree on Sunday that fell when a tornado passed through Marysville, Indiana.
Harrisburg, Illinois, residents face the daunting challenge of cleaning up after the prowerful storms.
Leah Boylan looks at the damage to her sister's home on Saturday, March 3, after it was destroyed by a tornado in Henryville, Indiana. Dozens of people were killed as severe weather and tornadoes ripped through the South and Midwest on Friday, March 2.
Melody Zollman, left, gets a hug from her sister Michelle Browning as they stand among the remains of Zollman's home in Henryville after it was destroyed by a tornado on Friday.
Zollman hugs her cat Thumbelina after it was pulled from the debris of her home.
Sarah Kutz helps her sister rescue possessions from her home, which was destroyed in the tornado that hit Henryville.
A school bus is lodged in a home in Henryville where it came to rest after being tossed by Friday's tornado.
Cupcakes, baked for a 12-year-old's birthday party, remain on the counter where they were left to cool moments before Friday's tornado destroyed the home.
iReporter Kevin Welz captured this image of the Henryville tornado as it touched down on Friday night.
Steve Smith and J. J. Smith survey the damage to their home following the tornado that struck Henryville.
A family portrait sits among the debris of a Henryville home.
A car and school bus are overturned in the parking lot of a Henryville school.
An overnight storm shredded the roof of a business in Paulding County, Georgia.
High winds during an overnight storm system tore apart a Paulding County home.
A tornado touched down in Madison County, Alabama, on Friday, causing widespread damage. The powerful storm system is moving across the United States, causing tornadoes from Alabama to Indiana and threatening more destruction. In Indiana, at least five deaths were reported.
A tornado in Ooltewah,Tennessee, left this home destroyed on Friday.
Debris is strewn as far as the eye can see in Ooltewah.
Meridianville, Alabama, was hit hard by Friday's storm system.
Tornado-force winds sheered this telephone pole in Madison County, Alabama.
Behind this once welcoming exterior in Madison County lies the ruins of a home struck by Friday's storm.
iRepoterer Blair Scott took this photo of damaged cars at Buckhorn High School in Hunstville, Alabama, after the school was hit by one of Friday's tornadoes.
Keith Huke, right, remained in the bed to his left, escaping with no injuries from the tornado that tore apart his home in Harrisburg, Illinois.
Utility workers try to restore electricity to a tornado-damaged section of Harrisburg on Friday.
Dale Barnfield, left, and his niece Linda Mayberry wait for an insurance adjuster outside Barnfield's tornado-damaged home in Harrisburg.
Harrisburg residents continue to clean up after Thursday's tornado.
A Harrisburg neighborhood lies in ruins Thursday after a tornado tore through the town. A monster storm system killed six people in Harrisburg and left at least seven others dead in two other states.
A truck appears twisted like a toy Thursday in the storm's aftermath in Harrisburg. A tornado with winds up to 180 mph thrashed the southern Illinois town early Wednesday.
Angela Davis, an iReporter from Marion, Illinois, went to Harrisburg after the storm because she said she has friends and family there. "It was kind of surreal," Davis wrote of the destruction. "We saw silos picked up/thrown around, gas pipes from gas stations, a truck wrapped around the tree."
Up to 300 houses were damaged or destroyed in Harrisburg, authorities said. The tornado had a preliminary rating of EF4, the second most powerful on the rating scale, the National Weather Service said.
Steve McDonald inspects what's left of his mother-in-law's house in Harrisburg. His in-law, Mary Osman, was among four women and two men killed in the hard-hit town.
Josh Summers searches for his possessions after the tornado ripped through his Harrisburg neighborhood. The twister appeared to have been on the ground for several miles, a city official said.
The powerful storm leaves cars tossed about among collapsed houses and other debris Wednesday in Harrisburg.
Downed trees crush a truck Wednesday after a tornado hit in Harveyville, Kansas. A state of emergency was declared in the town about 20 miles southwest of Topeka.
Douglas Osman sifts through the wreckage of his grandmother's house Wednesday in Harrisburg. His grandmother, Mary Osman, was one of six people killed in the Illinois town.
Carolyn Osman surveys the wreckage of the tornado that took her mother-in-law's life in Harrisburg, where some 100 people were also injured.
Levi Fogle helps girlfriend Sarah Pearce leave a damaged house in Harrisburg. Fogle, Pearce and her three daughters went unharmed in the storm.
John Bonenberger checks out damage to a Harrisburg strip mall where his business was located.
A house in Harrisburg lies in ruins in the tornado's aftermath.
An old family photo survives the destruction in Buffalo, Missouri.
The storm leaves a car battered in the music resort town of Branson, Missouri, in a photo from iReporter Danny Gassaway.
A tornado razed this house and above-ground swimming pool in Stoddard County.
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