[Updated at 4:22 p.m.] Emergency management officials believe that a tornado has struck Cullman Regional Medical Center in northern Alabama. A switchboard operator at the hospital told CNN that officials declared a disaster at the facility.

[Updated at 4:07 p.m.] A tornado was on the ground northeast of Cullman, Alabama, as of a few minutes ago, the National Weather Service said.

The towns of Good Hope, Baldwin, West Point and Fairview appear to be in the direct path of tornado. A tornado emergency has been declared by the National Weather Service for Alabama's northern Cullman and southeastern Morgan counties.

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Southern storms: 'I don't know how anyone survived'

(CNN) -- Daylight illuminated a scene of utter devastation across many areas of the South Thursday, following storms of near-epic proportions that killed at least 202 people in six states.

The vast majority of fatalities occurred in Alabama, where as many as 149 people perished, although Gov. Robert Bentley told reporters Thursday there were 131 confirmed deaths.

A breakdown provided by Bentley's office showed that violent weather claimed lives in 16 Alabama counties. Thirty people perished in DeKalb County in northeastern Alabama; the death toll in the hard-hit city of Tuscaloosa, in west-central Alabama, was at 36 as of Thursday morning, said Mayor Walter Maddox.

Before dawn Thursday, Mississippi emergency management officials also added 14 previously unreported fatalities to the count, increasing the death toll in that state to 32, officials said. At least one person died in both Arkansas and Tennessee and 11 died in Georgia. On Thursday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said eight people were dead.

Entire neighborhoods were leveled and hundreds of thousands of people were without power. As of 4 a.m. Thursday, Alabama Power said 363,511 customers were without power, and as of 8 a.m. Georgia Power said 52,000 customers were without power. Bentley estimated as many as half a million to a million people were without power statewide.

"This could be one of the most devastating tornado outbreaks in the nation's history by the time it's over," CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris said.

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