At least 39 people were killed as more than six dozen tornadoes tore across the central United States, flattening homes and smashing schools and businesses.

We’ve learned to be pretty humble out here about the way in which we mere mortals can prepare, no matter how hard we try

Trucks and trees were tossed aside like candy as deadly funnel clouds descended on five states.

The images were surreal: a school bus smashed through a brick home, trucks thrown into lakes, stately brick homes reduced to rubble and wooden ones smashed into kindling, mobile homes flipped like tin cans.

Fire stations, schools and jails were among the buildings torn apart and a rescue squad car in Kentucky was flipped over and trapped under live power lines.

Deaths from the tornadoes have been reported in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama and in Georgia.

Despite the toll and damage from the bad weather, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency said that it had received no requests for assistance from the states hit by the deadly storms.

While tornado watches were discontinued on Sunday, the National Weather Service forecast a cold front moving through some affected regions.

Temperatures were expected to fall below freezing and a mix of rain and snow was to become all snow, the service warned, a development that could pose further problems for people left without homes.

Meanwhile, the 20-month-old girl who was found barely alive amid the bodies of her parents and siblings died on Sunday after a 48-hour fight for life.

Angel, of New Pekin, Indiana, was found after her family’s mobile home was destroyed in the storms, killing her parents, two-month old sister and three-year-old brother in the storms.

When Angel arrived at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday night, she was opening her eyes in a hopeful sign, chief nursing officer Cis Gruebbel said.

But her condition worsened on Saturday, when the swelling in her brain did not decrease, he said. As the day went on, her eyes ceased to move and she continued to deteriorate. There was no sign of brain activity.

Family members made the decision to end life support on Sunday night.

“Angel has been reunited with her parents,” her grandfather, Jack Brough, said. “We want to thank God for all of you and for your thoughts and prayers. God will bring you and all of us out of this. This is what it will take. All should look to God.”

Yesterday, people gathered to worship, comb through debris and learn what happened to loved ones and friends, often without modern technology to help.

Mobile phone signals were hard to find, the internet was out and electricity indefinitely interrupted. In many cases, word-of-mouth conversations replaced text messages, Facebook status updates and phone calls. “It’s horrible. It’s things you take for granted that aren’t there anymore,” said Jack Cleveland, 50, a Census Bureau worker from Henryville, Indiana.

While it could be days before power and phone services are fully restored to the damaged areas, crews were making progress. In Indiana, about 2,800 homes were without power, down from 8,000 in the hours after the storms. But in some hard-hit areas, like Henryville, a substation and transmission lines need to be rebuilt, which could take up to a week.

Nearly 19,000 customers were without power in Kentucky, according to the state’s Public Service Commission, and a few thousand more from municipal utilities.

Mobile phone companies were trying to help residents by setting up mobile charging and e-mail stations so they could communicate while power and phone services were still difficult to find. They also brought in portable towers to boost signals and service was improving yesterday.

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels earlier commended action taken before the storms as well as subsequent efforts to support those affected.

“I think we were as ready as possible... and the reaction afterwards was the fastest we’ve ever done,” Mr Daniels said. “With all of that, when Mother Nature decides to work her wrath on we mere mortals you remember how inadequate the best of human action can be.”

“We’ve learned to be pretty humble out here about the way in which we mere mortals can prepare, no matter how hard we try.”

Some 545 people were killed by tornadoes in 2011, which was the deadliest tornado season since 1936 and the third worst on record, according to the national weather service.

This year, the tornados seem to have come a bit early with the mild winter creating the right conditions for cold fronts to slam into warmer air.

Peak tornado season in the southern states is usually March through May, and in the northern states late spring to early summer.