Operators of forklifts went into action as part of an extreme recovery from a series of natural disasters.

A tornado outbreak killed at least 53 people and destroyed towns in mid-west and south-central US states - Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia - drawing immediate humanitarian responses from near and far.

Businesses, schools and government agencies went into emergency modes to deal with the ravages of the storms. One tornado was reported as sweeping along the ground for a distance of about 60 mi. (96 km) in eastern Kentucky. Another tornado was rated at four on the enhanced Fujita scale, meaning it delivered winds of 166-200 mph. (267-322 km/h).

A forklift was put to use in the Middle Fork neighbourhood of Johnson County, Kentucky to raise the remains of a two-story house so two men could salvage belongings.

The non-profit AmeriCares disaster relief and humanitarian aid organisation of Stamford, Connecticut put its forklift operators to work loading pallets of clean water in bottles on four tractor-trailer trucks bound for the storm victims mostly in Kentucky.

The recreation centre of the community church in Henryville, Indiana became a clearing house for supplies. A forklift off-loaded pallets of dry goods and bottled water that had come from the relief agency Convoys of Hope in Springfield, Missouri.

Volunteer crews worked in shifts in Harrisburg, Illinois while officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were assessing damage.

Intense storm systems tracked across the region in high-wind environments with forecasters mentioning the potential for significant tornadoes.