RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Three days of severe storms and tornadoes in the southern United States have killed at least 43 people while downing power lines and wrecking hundreds of buildings, officials said on Sunday.

North Carolina accounted for the bulk of casualties and property losses, with 22 people killed and about 130 others injured. Significant damage was reported in at least 26 counties and power outages affected more than 200,000 people.

"Despite all the damage, the thing we heard the most today was how grateful people are to be alive," North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue told reporters after touring storm-damaged areas on Sunday.

She spoke with President Obama, who pledged "whatever it takes to rebuild North Carolina," Perdue said.

In Virginia, there were four confirmed deaths and reports of three unconfirmed deaths, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Virginia emergency officials said that 177 structures had been damaged by the severe weather.

It appeared to be the deadliest U.S. storm since February 2008, when 57 people died in two days from tornadoes in the South and Ohio Valley, said AccuWeather.com meteorologist Andy Mussoline, who said the death toll may change.

Dominion Virginia Power said the two nuclear reactors at its Surry Power Station in southeastern Virginia shut down automatically on Saturday when an apparent tornado touched down and cut off an electrical feed to the station.

Backup generators operated normally and both units "are in safe and stable condition," the utility said in a statement.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah said on Sunday no radiation was released during the storm and shutdown. "Everything worked the way it should," he said.

A SWATHE FROM OKLAHOMA TO THE ATLANTIC

The storms began in Oklahoma on Thursday, then moved through the South and hit the East Coast by Saturday. There were 241 tornadoes reported, with 50 confirmed.

Seven people died as a result of the storms in Alabama, seven died in Arkansas and one died in Mississippi. Two people were killed in Oklahoma when a tornado flattened buildings.

Governors in North Carolina and Virginia declared a state of emergency as authorities scrambled with rescue and cleanup operations.

In North Carolina, high winds destroyed more than 130 homes and damaged more than 700, the governor's office said.

Bertie County, a sprawling, rural area in northeastern North Carolina, was the hardest hit. Eleven residents died and 50 others were taken to hospitals, officials said on Sunday.

"We're used to hurricanes. We're used to tornadoes. We're used to floods. But we're not used to losing 11 of our citizens," said Bertie County Manager Zee Lamb.

Lamb said the powerful winds destroyed 75 homes, scattering their contents over a mile-wide area.

"The thing about this storm that is different than a typical tornado was the width," Lamb said. "It wasn't just 100 or 200 yards wide, but a half-mile wide and it stayed on the ground for six miles or so."

There were tales of survival.

"One couple went into a room for no particular reason. It's just where they decided to camp out. And every room in the house was destroyed except for that room," Lamb said.

In Sanford, North Carolina, a Lowe's and Wal-Mart were destroyed, as was a middle school in Greene County along with half the school buses parked nearby. In Raleigh, Shaw University and other buildings absorbed significant damage.

Progress Energy, the main utility in eastern North Carolina, said 220,000 customers were without electricity at the peak of the storm, with 78,000 homes and utilities still without power on Sunday morning.

The storm snapped hundreds of power poles and 30 transmission structures were damaged, company spokesman Mike Hughes said. In some areas, tornadoes swept away poles and wires and dropped them elsewhere.

"There are some parts where a tornado took the utility structure away and we cannot find it," Hughes said.

The stormy weather let up on Sunday, but Mussoline said more tornadoes could threaten the southern plains and Ohio Valley in the coming week, notably on Tuesday.

"At this point, it looks like the southeast will be spared the worst this upcoming week," he said.

(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins, Wendell Marsh and David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Peter Bohan)

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas Gov. Rick Perry sought additional federal help in battling wildfires across his drought-parched state as a woodland blaze gutted at least six homes on Sunday and threatened hundreds more in Austin, the state capital.

An estimated 1.5 million acres of tinder-like brush and grasslands have gone up in flames in Texas since January 1, about half of that during the past week alone under some of the driest conditions in Texas history.

Some 220 homes in all have been lost, according to a letter released on Sunday from Perry to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration.

One firefighter was killed on Friday in Eastland, Texas, about 80 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

"As wildfires continue to rage across our state, Texas is reaching its capacity to respond to these emergencies and is in need of federal assistance," the governor said in a statement.

Flames have blazed most fiercely for the past couple of weeks in West Texas, where a dozen wildfires have charred thousands of acres of open rangeland and prompted ranchers to move hundreds of thousands of cattle to safer pastures.

Fires have also forced hundreds of rural Texans from their homes across the state. But Austin, in central Texas, marked the largest and most heavily populated city placed in harm's way so far.

By Sunday afternoon, the blaze there had scorched 80 acres of oak and juniper woodlands in the southwestern corner of the capital, an area called Oak Hill, flanked by residential subdivisions and a community college.

Six to 10 homes were destroyed within hours of the fire's outbreak on Sunday, and about 100 more were evacuated as two U.S. Air Force cargo planes dumped fire retardants over the area, joined by a water-dropping helicopter.

"It does have the chance to get into the canopies of those trees and produce some pretty good flame lengths," Texas Forest Service spokesman Jim Carse told Reuters. "There's hundreds of homes, several different neighborhoods, that are in the area that are threatened."

It was not immediately clear how the fire started.

About 160 miles away in north-central Texas, the town of Strawn, population 764, was evacuated as a 1,000-acre wildfire closed in on the area. More than 30 homes in the area already were destroyed during the past week, fire officials said.

The blaze advancing on Strawn was part of a group of fires that burned 45,000 acres around Possum Kingdom Lake and then merged. Wind-whipped flames had managed to jump portions of the lake, fire information officer Steve Deffibaugh said.

(Corrects location of Austin in 7th paragraph)

(Reporting by Elliott Blackburn; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Peter Bohan)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Chris Paul ran circles around the Los Angeles Lakers in a scintillating performance to lead his New Orleans Hornets to a 109-100 upset victory over the defending champions in their NBA playoff series opener Sunday.

Paul scored 15 of his 33 points in the final five minutes and dished out 14 assists to spur the underdog Hornets to a 1-0 best-of-seven series lead. Game Two is on Wednesday.

"It's the playoffs. My teammates are looking for me to be aggressive," Paul told reporters after adding seven rebounds and four steals. "In the playoffs there aren't as many fouls called. Sometimes you have to force the issue."

Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 34 points but sidekick Pau Gasol struggled through a 2-for-9 shooting effort as the Lakers' recent inconsistent play carried over into the post-season.

In their quest for a third consecutive title Los Angeles has endured a roller-coaster season of winning and losing streaks, dropping five straight before capping the regular season with two straight wins.

Their lack of steady play continued against a New Orleans team that lacks size and had lost all four regular season meetings with the Lakers.

But in their series opener the Hornets nearly led from start to finish and turned to their All Star point guard for a final surge after their lead was cut to 90-87 in the fourth.

Paul ran off six straight points to put the Hornets up six with 3:10 remaining, and after Los Angeles inched within four at 96-92 New Orleans scored eight straight to permanently quiet the Staples Center crowd.

Carl Landry had 17 points and Jarrett Jack added 15 for the Hornets who shot 51 percent from the field.

"Our defense was late on everything," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who admitted to being stunned by the performance. "We did not get the ball inside which is one of our strengths. They were capable of crowding the lane and making it difficult for us."

Center Andrew Bynum returned to the court with 13 points and nine rebounds, having missed the final game of the regular season with a knee injury.

Ron Artest recorded 16 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles but the team was defenseless against Paul and the Hornets.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner; editing by Rex Gowar. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)