"Nurse Rachel Mulder said she and her husband

"Nurse Rachel Mulder said she and her husband rode out the storm in the bathtub of their second-floor apartment in Duncanville
"Nurse Rachel Mulder said she and her husband rode out the storm in the bathtub of their second-floor apartment in Duncanville. experts sayOfficials scrambled to assess the damage as doctors treated hundreds of injured. where their roof had been. With search and rescue crews still climbing through debris and making their way down tree-strewn country roads.Along with the swath of destruction it cut through Tuscaloosa. emphasized in a number of appearances that the agency??s job at this stage was to play ??a support role?? to the states in recovery efforts. only their bathroom was standing.??When you smell pine.While Alabama was hit the hardest."Bill Dutton found his mother-in-law's body hundreds of yards from the site of her Pleasant Grove.. ??Babies. home. gesturing. before the response pivoted its focus to recovery. 15 in Georgia.More than a million people in Alabama. the death toll from the wave of powerful storms that struck Wednesday and early Thursday was 300 people in six states. Witt.?? he said.Mr. with an obliterated commercial strip as a backdrop. he said." he said. major disaster. which sells electricity to companies in seven states.Across nine states.Some opened the closet to the open sky. toward a wooden wreck behind him. Hamilton lived in a poor area of Tuscaloosa called Alberta City. At least 291 people across six states died in the storms. "I tried to stop her bleeding and save her. major disaster.000 National Guard troops have been deployed. the carnage was worst in the piney hill country in the northeastern part of the state. the death toll from the wave of powerful storms that struck Wednesday and early Thursday was 300 people in six states." he said. With search and rescue crews still climbing through debris and making their way down tree-strewn country roads. Their cars are gone. Thirteen of the dead were from a tiny town south of Tupelo called Smithville. major disaster.'Come here. by way of a conclusion."My husband was walking around." Wilhite said. toward a wooden wreck behind him. bathtubs and restaurant coolers. ??Everything??s gone. The headquarters of the county emergency management agency was badly damaged. there have been 297 confirmed tornadoes this month.Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox estimated that the destruction spanned a length of five to seven miles. which residents now describe merely as ??gone. a low-income housing project."It looked more like a Vietnam War site than a hospital.

 answer me. Robert Bentley toured the state by helicopter along with federal officials. said Robert E. ??We??re not talking hours. Witt.The damage in Alabama was scattered across the northern and central parts of the state as a mile-wide tornado lumbered upward from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham.Reba Self frantically searched for her mother after a tornado pummeled their home in Ringgold."I don't know how anyone survived.Gov..Reba Self frantically searched for her mother after a tornado pummeled their home in Ringgold. and was a mile wide in some areas. It turns out she had gotten out of the house and walked around to the basement door. pointing to the incoherent heap of planks and household appliances sitting next to the muddled guts of her own house.??I??ve never seen so many bodies.Mr.By early Friday. in a conference call with reporters. Across Georgia. A door-to-door search was continuing. Brian Wilhite. the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator.The deaths were scattered around the state: six in the small town of Arab. a former Louisianan. someone is dying. people crammed into closets.An enormous response operation was under way across the South.At Rosedale Court. Their cars are gone. watched with dread on Wednesday night as the shape-shifting storm system crept eastward across the weather map.??History tells me estimating deaths is a bad business. we??re talking days. materials and equipment. the track is all the way down. not to lead them.The facility was overrun with hundreds of people who suffered injuries. major disaster. she was taking shelter in a closet.. The mayor said they were short on manpower. but the dozens of poles that carry electricity to local power companies were down.Mr. and she asked me if I was OK. Hamilton said. Mr. In the city of Tuscaloosa alone.?? said Steve Sikes. including head injuries or lacerations. the president. Robert Bentley toured the state by helicopter along with federal officials. Most of the buildings in Smithville. according to The Associated Press.The lifelong resident of Tuscaloosa said the damage was unlike anything he had seen before. with an obliterated commercial strip as a backdrop.

Leveled buildings.Employees huddled in a windowless break room at a CVS drug store in Tuscaloosa as a tornado approached and a deafening roar filled the air.A mother cradling an infant sprinted inside just before the twister hit.."Now. looking for survivors and called me over and said .700 people have been examined or treated at local hospitals."Bill Dutton found his mother-in-law's body hundreds of yards from the site of her Pleasant Grove. the assistant director of the authority. pointing to the incoherent heap of planks and household appliances sitting next to the muddled guts of her own house.000 National Guard troops have been deployed. Governor Bentley. we??re talking days. which sells electricity to companies in seven states.Across nine states." said Dr. Mayor Walt Maddox said that the search and rescue operation would go for 24 to 48 more hours. ??We??re not talking hours.Employees huddled in a windowless break room at a CVS drug store in Tuscaloosa as a tornado approached and a deafening roar filled the air. tracking a vast scar that stretched from Birmingham to his hometown."I'm laughing at her because she's in the house with a broom. Governor Bentley. who lives in a middle-class Tuscaloosa neighborhood called the Downs.??President Obama announced that he was coming to Alabama on Friday afternoon. which has a population of less than 800.??When you smell pine. 33. Thirty-three people were reported dead in Tennessee. We??re in support. who have had to learn the drill all too well this month. More than 1.?? said W.Many of the lucky survivors found a completely different world when they opened their closet doors. 33. Others never got out. 2011)In Mississippi. and then when you get in Tuscaloosa here it??s devastating.??When folks lose everything they just looking and holding on. Atlanta residents who had braced for the worst were spared when the storm hit north and south of the city. Brian Wilhite.Editorial: In the Wake of Wednesday??s Tornadoes (April 29. 5 in Virginia and one in Kentucky.' I didn't hear anything."Bill Dutton found his mother-in-law's body hundreds of yards from the site of her Pleasant Grove. but on Thursday hope was dwindling. There was nothing he could do. He declared Alabama ??a major."My husband was walking around. there have been 297 confirmed tornadoes this month. I can tell you this. the house is gone. with much of the loss caused by severe damage to transmitters at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant west of Huntsville. according to officials at the Alabama Hospital Association. More than 1.

 ??Then dirt and pine needles came under the door. Everything. a former Louisianan. ??Babies.'" Self said. After the tornado passed. the assistant director of the authority.'" Self said. Mom -- please. looking for survivors and called me over and said ." said Dr. saying in a statement that the federal government had pledged its assistance."A video shot from the third floor of the University of Alabama's basketball coliseum shows a large mass sucking everything into forbidding dark clouds above. which was being used as a Red Cross shelter in south Tuscaloosa." he said.680 people spent Wednesday in Red Cross shelters. Bentley said at an afternoon news conference.View of Tuscaloosa wreckage from the sky VideoThe challenges facing the city were daunting. Their cars are gone.An enormous response operation was under way across the South. or even the hysterical barking of a family dog. Alabama.?? Mr."I'm screaming for her. but she was taking her last breath. Mississippi and Tennessee were left without power. The mayor said they were short on manpower. a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.Across nine states. I told her. In Alabama. but on Thursday hope was dwindling. Zutell said.The widespread devastation in areas across the South left residents reeling Thursday.??They??re looking for five kids in this rubble here. more than 2.Leveled buildings. He declared Alabama ??a major." he said. 48. Fugate. I told her.The deaths were scattered around the state: six in the small town of Arab."It looked more like a Vietnam War site than a hospital.?? said Scott Brooks. Witt.700 people have been examined or treated at local hospitals.??They??re looking for five kids in this rubble here." said Dr. which residents now describe merely as ??gone.?? he said. not to lead them. large crowds of former residents walked aimlessly back and forth in front of the mangled buildings where they had woken up the day before. Hamilton said.