BEAUREGARD, Ala. (AP) - A candlelight vigil and grief counseling are being planned as students return to school in an Alabama community where nearly two dozen people died in a tornado outbreak.

Churches are planning an event that will include candlelight remembrances and prayer on Monday night at Beauregard High School in rural east Alabama. An organizer, Angela Bush, tells WSFA-TV that people need hope amid the devastation.

A grief counselor met with teachers Monday to assist them in helping students as classes resume Tuesday in the Lee County school system that includes Beauregard.

Severe weather that included a powerful EF4 tornado devastated parts of the Southeast on March 3, killing 23 people in Beauregard. The dead include 10 members of one extended family and range in age from 6 to 89.

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