"We have still weeks of work ahead. This is just a mountain of nothing, just debris everywhere," bulldozer operator Charlie Heins said while clearing wreckage in Tuscaloosa, where 39 people were killed and neighborhoods demolished.

President Barack Obama late Saturday reiterated his pledge to help the region recover from the "heartbreaking" despair and devastation.

"It's going to be a long road back and so we need to keep those Americans in our thoughts and in our prayers," Obama said at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

"We also need to stand with them in the hard months and perhaps years to come," he added. "I intend to make sure that the federal government does that."

The death toll in Alabama, the state hardest hit by the tornadoes that left in their wake the second deadliest disaster of its kind in US history, was lowered by four Saturday to 250.

The dead included eight students at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the Tuscaloosa News reported. Eight others were listed as missing in Alabama and another 1,730 people were either hospitalized or injured.

Mississippi increased its confirmed deaths by one to 35 on Saturday, with the latest death reported during search and recovery efforts.

The scale of the disaster is exceeded only by a tornado outbreak in March 1925 that left 747 people dead.

Search and rescue teams were moving into smaller communities that didn't get immediate attention after the storms, and they are coming upon more destruction, said Yasamie August, an Alabama emergency management spokeswoman.

"We are still finding complete subdivisions and homes completely leveled. It is very devastating to see," she said. "Whether they have large populations or not, they are pretty much all facing the same thing."

For the living, still shocked by scenes of utter devastation in once-thriving cities like Tuscaloosa, the ordeal of rebuilding their shattered lives was just beginning.

Complicating efforts, many firehouses and emergency facilities were severely damaged in the storms. Tuscaloosa's Salvation Army building was destroyed.

"It has been extremely difficult to coordinate because so many people have been affected, some of the very same people you'd look to for assistance," said Sister Carol Ann Gray with the local Catholic Social Services.

But hundreds of volunteers swarmed into devastated city areas to help out, some preparing food or distributing water, others helping friends and neighbors cut away branches from huge, uprooted trees that crushed houses.

"Everybody is helping in some way. I'm good making BBQ, so I'm here doing my best," said Tim Clements, a volunteer from a church group, as he grilled burgers for the homeless.

In addition to Alabama, the number of confirmed tornado-related deaths stood at 35 in Mississippi, 34 in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, eight in Arkansas and five in Virginia.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said as many as 446 people were unaccounted for in his city, but said "many of those reports probably were from people who have since found their loved ones but have not notified authorities."

Cadaver-sniffing dogs were deployed in the city Friday and Saturday but they had not found any remains, the mayor said.

With fewer bodies being found, authorities were beginning to shift their efforts to the massive recovery work in communities paralyzed by felled trees, downed power lines and smashed homes.

Crews were out in force untangling power lines and restringing traffic lights.

Alabama Power and Tennessee Valley Authority said it had more than 10,000 employees and contractors on the streets working to restore power, and reported a combined 650,000 customers still in the dark Saturday.

Alabama had 35 teams fanning across affected areas, each with rescue personnel, mortuary specialists, emergency assistance officials and law enforcement to coordinate the disaster response.

It was also distributing water, military MREs, or meals ready to eat, tarps and generators, August said.

The state was operating 16 shelters, and so far had 659 people in them.

In more remote communities, mortuary teams have set up temporary morgues, and 2,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to maintain law and order.

"We've heard of some looting that has occurred in some of the counties," said August.

In hard-hit Smithville, Mississippi, volunteers were told they can use heavy equipment to remove downed trees, but were prohibited from removing structures because of potential damage to underground utilities.

The US Agriculture Department announced $6 million in aid for disaster recovery projects in 10 states affected by the storms. And federal housing authorities were on the ground helping to coordinate apartment rentals.

But the longer-term dimensions of the challenge were only starting to come into view.

"This is going to be a long-term operation that is going to take us months to pull together," said August.

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