'You Won't be Forgotten'

He pledged 'maximum federal help' to cope with property damage and recovery costs.

The number of confirmed tornado-related deaths increased on Friday to 228 in Alabama, the worst-hit state, to 34 in Mississippi, and to eight in Arkansas, officials said.

Aside from those states, the twisters left 34 dead in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, and five in Virginia, according to state officials.

Families picked through the remains of homes, businesses and schools, bearing witness to scenes of devastation more common in war zones or after earthquakes. The storms wreaked the most damage in some of the nation's poorest districts already hit hard by the economic downturn.