7 Dead and Thousands Without Power After Storms Hit Southeast

April 5, 2011— -- Powerful and fast-moving storms powered through the South last night, bringing high winds, hail and lightning with them. At least seven people have been killed, while several hundred thousand woke up today without power. Within just one 10-minute period, there were 1,500 lightning strikes, causing 3 fires in Georgia.

"This is unbelievable. My car is physically shaking," said one eyewitness who caught some of the horrific storm on camera. "This is actually frightening what's going on here."

The storms were part of a system that cut a wide swath from the Mississippi River across the Southeast to Georgia and the Carolinas on Monday and early Tuesday, marching eastward like an angry army.

In Topeka, Kan., Sharon Sands says she opened her eyes, and there was a tornado. "I was scared. I was so scared. My thought was, I just ran in the house and told them to get downstairs."

At a factory in Hopkinsville, Ky., a tornado sent seven workers to the hospital after it tore through a wall.

In Dickinson, Tenn., Stacy Hood and her family had to run for cover as another tornado closed in. "Whooh, it came in and you could hear it rip it off and then water just started pouring in on the ceilings everywhere. It was terrible," she told ABC News.

At least 20 tornadoes touched down overnight following warnings that were put out in 10 states. Lucky families who escaped damages and injury, didn't get much sleep.

Jackson, Miss. Mayor Charlie Brown said the storm's devastation was the worst the city had seen in 30 or 40 years.

"I would say weeks, a minimum of weeks for us to be able to clean up our community," Brown said.

The storms continued to move across the Carolinas early Tuesday morning, still packing enough punch to knock down trees and damage power lines. Parts of states further north, including Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia also reported power outages.

This morning, families who had fled are starting to come back to clean up.

"[We were] very worried that we weren't going to have a house when we came back," Rich Schiffelbein said.

Accuweather Meteorologist Tom Kines told ABC News he thinks this storm has largely passed. It currently presents a threat to southern Florida, but it is no longer the angry beast that swept through so much of the country. Trouble is brewing in the Northwest however, as a cold front moves into that sector in the next 24 hours, bringing unusually cold temperatures. Kines said the system could mix with warmer Gulf air in the plains states, threatening the South with more severe weather this weekend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.