Mother Nature's Power and Devastation - Almost 250 Dead as Tornadoes Ravage South

Pleasant Grove, Alabama--Dozens of tornadoes ripped through the South, flattening homes and businesses and killing at least 248 people in six states in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years.

As day broke Thursday, people in hard-hit Alabama surveyed flattened, debris-strewn neighborhoods and told of pulling bodies from rubble after the storms passed Wednesday afternoon and evening.

"It happened so fast it was unbelievable," said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son's wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham. "They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here."

He and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their front porch. Friends down the street who did the same weren't so lucky -- Stewart said he pulled out the bodies of two neighbors whose home was ripped off its foundation.

Alabama's state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 162 deaths, while there were 32 in Mississippi, 32 in Tennessee, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and one in Kentucky.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it received 137 tornado reports into Wednesday night.

Some of the worst damage was in Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 that is home to the University of Alabama. Neighborhoods there were leveled by a massive tornado caught on video by a tower-mounted news camera that barreled through late Wednesday afternoon.

"When I looked back, I just saw trees and stuff coming by," said Mike Whitt, a resident at DCH Regional Medical Center who ran from the hospital's parking deck when the wind started swirling and he heard a roar.

On Thursday morning, he walked through the neighborhood next to the hospital, home to a mix of students and townspeople, looking at dozens of homes without roofs. Household items were scattered on the ground -- a drum, running shoes, insulation, towels, and a shampoo bottle. Streets were impassable, the pavement strewn with trees, pieces of houses and cars with their windows blown out.

Dr. David Hinson was working at the hospital when the tornado hit. He and his wife had to walk several blocks to get to their house, which was destroyed. Several houses down, he helped pull three students from the rubble. One was dead and two were badly injured. He and others used pieces of debris as makeshift stretchers to carry them to an ambulance.

"We just did the best we could to get them out and get them stabilized and get them to help," he said. "I don't know what happened to them."

Back from an aerial tour Thursday morning, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said the tornado tore a streak as many as 4 miles long and a half-mile wide of "utter destruction." There are at least 36 people dead in the city's police jurisdiction, and searches continue for the missing.

"We have neighborhoods that have been basically removed from the map," he said.

Because the city's emergency management building was destroyed, authorities are using Bryant-Denny Stadium at the University of Alabama as a command post.

University officials said there didn't appear to be significant damage on campus, and dozens of students and locals were staying at a 125-bed shelter in the campus recreation center.

The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out. The governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia issued emergency declarations for parts of their states.

Dave Imy, a meteorologist with the prediction service, said the deaths were the most since a tornado outbreak killed 315 people in 1974.

"They were thrown into those pines over there," Mary Green, Johnnie Green's daughter-in-law, said, pointing to a wooded area. "They had to go look for their bodies."

Jessica Monaghan, 24, walked through the wreckage with her 9-month-old son, Slade Scott, strapped to her back, and the baby's father, 23-year-old Tyler Scott, by her side.

"The baby was already in the closet. I grabbed the cat and got in the closet, too," Monaghan said. "You could just feel the pressure. It really was like a freight train."

And in Pleasant Grove, Samantha Nail surveyed the damage in the blue-collar subdivision where hers was the only home still intact. The storm slammed heavy pickup trucks into ditches and obliterated tidy brick houses, leaving behind a mess of mattresses, electronics and children's toys scattered across a grassy plain where dozens used to live.

"We were in the bathroom holding on to each other and holding on to dear life," Nail said. "If it wasn't for our concrete walls, our home would be gone like the rest of them."

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[BoyPerfect235]

This is horrible I hope God is with those people down south I know I'm praying for u up here please God keep them safe...

[AquaRacer8]

@BoyPerfect235 thank you for your support and comments. Every prayer is appreciated and does make a difference as does any volunteer help. What gets me is how it seems that any natural disaster outside the U.S. seems to get more attention than the local ones. We need to support our own country first and foremost. Not saying we shouldn't help others but what good is it if we are over-extended and can't take care of our own people first?

[AquaRacer8]

Apparently debris from Tuscaloosa is falling in Birmingham...very tragic.

[FramebyFramemagic]

This was a really scary day I was in Virginia in the part with 3 active tornado warnings on the map near Danville.

[GoTimothy]

By By Confederate States of America. No federal aid for you, you did not want to be part of the United States. You do not want to be one nation under God. You will no longer whistle Dixie founders of the NRA. You think things are bad now? Wait to see what happens on the Madrid fault haters of God.

[lawf78]

Again u clown ..... everyone in the US is and was not laughing about the disasters in Japan... U r just ignorant for stereotyping... Really" u need to catch a clue.. No loss of human life is a laughing matter!!!

[ImWitStupit]

continue...

"The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that."-Larry Kudlow

"What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes.You just never know! They did pearl harbor so u can’t expect anything less."-WNBA guard Cappie Pondexter

and don't forget the countless insensitive comments(i.e. "payback for pearl harbor",,,etc) on twitter.Looks like you're the "stupid fuck".

[ImWitStupit]

@wstrahan

"Wanna feel better about Japan earthquake, google Pearl Harbor death toll"-Family Guy scriptwriter Alec Sulkin

"Look this is very serious people I had to evacuate all my hoe's from LA, Hawaii and Japan. I had to do it. Lol."-rapper 50 cent

"Japan called me. They said 'maybe those jokes are a hit in the U.S., but over here, they're all sinking,"-Gilbert Gottfried

continue.....

[lawf78]

O... my bad I spelled your name the correct way on the previous post.. looks like u need to spell check before u try and condemn anyone with KARMA...

[lawf78]

ImWitStupid.... u need prayer" obviously u are immature and selfish for making a statement as that"