Ten members of the same family were killed after the deadliest US tornado in nearly six years swept past their homes in Alabama.

Winds of up to 170mph rolled mobile homes across fields and caused brick homes to collapse into unrecognisable heaps in Beauregard, a rural community around 60 miles west of the city of Montgomery.

At least 23 people have been killed, including 10 from the same family.

Grandparents, 89-year-old Jimmy Jones and 83-year-old Mary Louise Jones, were killed in their home on a two-lane road where almost everyone shares family ties.

The couple's son Emmanuel Jones, a 53-year-old uncle to the cousins, was also killed. Seven cousins by both blood and marriage: Eric Jamal Stenson, 38; Florel Tate Stenson; 63; Henry Lewis Stenson; 65; James Henry Tate, 86; Tresia Robinson, 62; Raymond Robinson Jr, 63; and Maggie Delight Robinson, 57, also died.

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Other members of the family remain in hospital with serious injuries. There are fears that the number of dead, both in the family and out of it, could rise.

"It really hasn't fully hit me yet. I'm still trying to process it," Cordarrly Jones, one of the survivors from the family, said.

"Everybody in this area just about was related," Demetria Jones, another member of the family added. "It's devastating."

The enormous twister apparently churned for about 70 miles (110 kilometres), crossing the state line and ending in neighbouring Georgia over the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

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Government teams that surveyed the damage confirmed there was an outbreak of at least 20 twisters in Florida, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina.

The search for bodies, pets and belongings continued in and around Beauregard this week, amid the din of beeping heavy machinery and whining chain saws.

Richard Tate, who is part of the same family and lost four close relatives, said he was lucky to be alive.

"It could have taken all of us the way it was moving," Mr Tate said, who was inside his home with his wife when the structure was destroyed.