Federal Aid Promised To Tornado-Hit States

Emergency Crews Head To Devastated Areas, As Bush Plans Trip To Survey Destruction

(CBS/AP)  Federal and state emergency teams poured into areas hardest-hit by deadly tornadoes that pounded across the southeastern U.S., as officials surveyed damage and emergency crews struggled to help victims.

"It really is unbelievable that Mother Nature can create that much devastation," County Mayor Shelvy Linville said Wednesday evening at his Macon County, Tennessee, home. "We need your prayers."

Rebuilding has barely begun in the northern Tennessee community of Lafayette and in the others where dozens of tornadoes ripped across Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama on Tuesday. The nation's deadliest set of twisters in more than two decades killed at least 55 people and injured hundreds more.

U.S. President George W. Bush called the governors of the affected states to offer support. CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that Mr. Bush will visit Tennessee on Friday to see the damage firsthand, and to offer assurances of federal assistance to areas devastated by the storms.

"Prayers can help and so can the government," he said.

Thirty-one people were killed in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and four in Alabama, emergency officials said. It was one of the 15 worst tornado death tolls since 1950, and the nation's deadliest barrage of tornadoes since May 31, 1985, when 76 people were killed in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Officials now say there were 93 tornado sightings, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella. One in Tennessee was an "EF-4" - a devastating twister with winds up to 200 miles an hour, powerful enough to level well-built homes and turn cars and refrigerators into missiles, reports Cobiella. Only one percent of tornados become this intense.

On Wednesday Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky visited areas hit hard by the storms.

"This is a horrible situation," Beshear said. "I am putting boots on the ground in these areas to view the destruction and determine how public emergency service can best assist those facing loss of family and property."

In Frankfort, state lawmakers prayed for storm victims.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour asked the federal Small Business Administration conduct a damage assessment of tornado-damaged areas.

"Although we are extremely fortunate there have been no reports of loss of life in Mississippi, our thoughts and prayers go out to storm victims in other states, where casualties have occurred," Barbour said in a statement. "However, we have more than 120 homes and businesses that were damaged or destroyed as a result of the severe weather."

Among the most remarkable survival stories: in Castalian Springs, Tenn., a baby was discovered unscathed in a field across from a demolished post office. A bystander swaddled the crying child in his shirt. There was no word on the child's parents' fates.

"He had debris all over him, but there were no obvious signs of trauma," said Ken Weidner, Sumner County emergency management director.

The National Weather Service issued more than 1,000 tornado warnings from 3 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday in the 11-state area where the weather was heading. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., put out an alert six days in advance.

There were no comprehensive estimates yet on damages, but the tornadoes' paths left behind flattened streets and treelines, shredded mobile homes, flipped-over tractor-trailers and trucks, and concrete floors where homes, garages and carports once stood.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who viewed the northern Tennessee damage by helicopter, said after his aerial tour: "It looks like the Lord took a Brillo pad and scrubbed the ground."

Weather conditions were ripe for tornadoes and forecasters were ready with warnings and in many hard-hit areas, sirens and TV warnings were credited with helping keep the death toll from being even worse.

In the mostly rural area of Lafayette, there are no tornado sirens. Linville, the county mayor, said he didn't think they would have made much difference because of the way the 23,000 residents are spread out.

"You don't really think it's going to hit you until you realize it's on top of you, then it's too late," he said.

Just outside town, Melissa Bryant watched as friends picked through the heavily damaged home where her 78-year-old mother Dorothy Collins survived in a bathroom.

"It's devastating and terrible," Bryant said. "But she's very lucky; she's alive."

The two-story garage was gone, and in a yard filled with debris, the bellows of a bull that neighbors said had been injured by a fallen tree could be heard from hundreds of yards away.

Students took cover in dormitory bathrooms as the storms closed in on Union University in Jackson, Tenn. More than 20 students at the Southern Baptist school were trapped behind wreckage and jammed doors after the dormitories came down around them.

With five minutes' warning from TV news reports, Nova and Ray Story huddled inside their home outside Lafayette and came out unscathed. But nearby, their uncle, Bill Clark, was injured in his toppled mobile home.

They put him in the bed of their pickup to take him to a hospital, and neighbors with chain saws tried to clear a path. What normally would have been a 30-minute drive to the hospital took well more than two hours because the roads were clogged with debris. Clark died on the way.

"He never had a chance," Nova Story said. "I looked him right in the eye and he died right there in front of me."

Sorrells, who with her mother and her mother's boyfriend filled garbage bags with belongings pulled from the rubble of her home Wednesday evening, said she was sitting on her couch watching storm coverage on television and talking with her mother by cell phone when the power abruptly went out.

"Something is hitting the house," she told her mother. Then, "It's here!"

The next thing she knew, she said, "I was looking up at sky."

[b-easy63]

Yep. Just let Bush dig into his magic money pocket and pull that money out along with the economic spending spree and the 300 million dollar a day war.....and McCain thinks we can keep it all going for another hundred years. Republicans act like, no matter how much money we really have--as long as they have checks..they can keep writing them out.

[jwind11]

b-easy63,You and all the Bush bashers need to take a long look in mirror. You all have lots of anger and want to throw it at Bush as if he is the reason your lives are the way they are. Newsflash! it doesnt matter who is president right now your life would be the same, you would still be angry and blaming that president. Your life will still be the same 2 years from now whoever the next president is. My suggestion is all of you take responsibility for your lives, and go get the help you need for your anger issues. By the way, you will all respond to this by calling me names and such, that is fine, its called denial and very common in people in your situation. Someday you might take my advice and get the help you need, and then you will be thanking me. Please go get help. You will find it is probably an unresolved childhood issue or issues causing your anger. The president has nothing to do with your problems.

[hungry1968]

"Mr. Bush will visit Tennessee on Friday to see the damage firsthand, and to offer assurances of federal assistance to areas devastated by the storms."



Translation - the American tax payer is going to funnel billions of more dollars to Haliburton and KBR. Just like they did from Katrina.

[sgtrds]

Please don''t let Bush go there! These poor people have suffered enough without having his people searching for black children for him to have one of his phony "I care" photo ops!

[jwind11]

Sgt and hungry, please see 2nd post here, the one directed at b-easy63, applies to you to.

[justrains]

It is truely a sad day

[fishinfool43]

FEMA to the rescue!!! HA!! These poor folks will have everything cleaned up long before they ever get assistance.

[republic1776]

Why don''t we encourage people to move from Areas prone to natural disasters instead of blaming The Government.
Darwin @ work here.
MOVE!

[iceman_1960]

Barack Obama"s Blueprint for Change:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

[joyous88]

They are in great shape,because they are gonna get the "Katrina Response" from the Bush White House.

[iceman_1960]

Why do they fracture these URL"s.

But anway...

Barack Obama has issues. And a detailed plan for each.

To read Obama"s plan, issue by issue (issues listed in alphabetical order), join the following two parts into one URL:

http://www.barackobama.com/

issues/

[iceman_1960]

"It is truly a sad day"
- Posted by Justrains at 11:39 AM : Feb 07, 2008

It truly is.

[iceman_1960]

"Prayers can help and so can the government," Bush said. "

And when Bush is the government, a pilgrimage to Lourdes is in order.

[fishinfool43]

I have volunteered for 2 different tornadoes here in Iowa in the past, donated my time and equipment for ham sandwiches, a few chips, and a couple pepsi''s.

What I got in return was some great friendships that will last forever, many thank you''s, and a big hug from a little 5 year old girl for finding her favorite teddy bear that was 1/4 mile away from where her house used to be.

My heart goes out to these people whose lives have been lost or turned upside down. If anyone is in those areas, please volunteer. These people need help now. Keep in mind, the gov''t assistance will take alot longer to get there.

[excoachken]

The Cowardly Cowboy was just seen looking toward the sky and saying,"Your doin'' a heckuva job Jesus!"

[sgtrds]

Why don''''t we encourage people to move from Areas prone to natural disasters instead of blaming The Government.
Darwin @ work here.
MOVE!

Posted by republic1776 at 12:14 PM : Feb 07, 2008

What a completely idiotic suggestion that is! Where would you expect people to move where there are no natural disasters? North? Blizzards. South? Hurricanes. East? Also blizzards and hurricanes. West? Earthquakes.

Like the greatest philosopher of all time, Bugs Bunny, once said, "What a maroon!"

[singingrick]

Ooops! Sorry, we''ve already earmarked that money for Iraq.

[iceman_1960]

"They are fools to think Bush cares...take a look at Katrina."
- Posted by zoe2006 at 01:20 PM : Feb 07, 2008

It took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome.

Try getting through just one day in a desperate state of thirst.

FEMA had been an efficient agency under Jimmy Carter (its founder) and subsequent Predidents. Dubya let it fall to pieces.

[countyboy21]

You Folks are in my prayers!
God Bless!
regards.

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush II has promised federal aid to those people affected by tornadoes and such from all the freak storms that have hit the US(SA) lately.

The Great Emperor will do as he has done during all prior disasters affecting the "little people". He will fly over the areas in a heliocopter (out of fear that a "terrrrrrorist" or angry citizen will throw a rotten tomatoe at him), the he will land where the Secret Service have set up a photo op showing the Emperor shaking hands with a well-fed card-carrying neocon Fascist Republican, then he will return to his throne in the Oval Office and forget all about any promises he made.

He has already told everyone that the "prayers" of the people go to the victims. As if Prayers will rebuild their lives and homes!

Sounds like another New Orleans, all over again!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!

[iceman_1960]

"What a completely idiotic suggestion that is! Where would you expect people to move where there are no natural disasters? North? Blizzards. South? Hurricanes. East? Also blizzards and hurricanes. West? Earthquakes. Like the greatest philosopher of all time, Bugs Bunny, once said, "What a maroon!"
- Posted by SgtRDS at 01:29 PM : Feb 07, 2008

You"re absolutely right.

I think the poster was suggesting that people be discouraged from living in areas where the dangers are more extreme, where for instance, it is difficult or impossible to get flood insurance.

The area I live is flatland where the only real danger would be tornadoes, but parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle are much riskier for that.

If I wanted to avoid tornadoes I could move to the mountains and get buried by an avalanche.

But at any rate it isn"t either/or. People could be helped and encouraged to avoid places like that, and still helped if they can"t or won"t move.

[iceman_1960]

Bush does care, however. Lets be fair.

Here he is, offering spiritual support to a disaster victim:

"Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott"s house - he"s lost his entire house - there"s going to be a fantastic house. And I"m looking forward to sitting on the porch." - George W. Bush, Sept. 2, 2005

[danstoned]

Folks in Tennessee are wondering why Americans are not showing more sympathy to them after their date with tornadoes. Could it be because their Republicons Senator Lamar Alexander voted against extending unemployment benefits and rebate checks to the elderly? Alexander also voted against SCHIPP, the plan that would have provided health insurance to children without. Or could it be that GOP in Tennessee race baited their base of racists into not sending a more competent black democrat to the US Senate?

[jwind11]

Question to the Bush bashers:

What is it that Bush or next President can do that will improve your life?? Your happiness should not be based on who the president is. All this anger towards someone you never have met just boggles my mind. This country is bigger than the president. You all have the same oppurtunities as anyone else in this country to make something of yourselves. Just because you are upset with where your life is, do not blame the president. Two years from now on I suspect you will all still be angry about your decisions in life and blame that on next president, no matter who it is.

[danstoned]

jwind11

Hey Neocon Bush supporter, tell US about how you feel about the Clintons?

[jwind11]

danstoned, you didnt answer my question. what can bush or next president do to improve your life? how are they to blame for where your life is now? I dont let who the president is run my emotions. I take responsibility for my life, I dont let President decide it for me. Obviously you do.

[excoachken]

Remember how nut case Pat Robertson said that New Orleans being hit by Hurricane Katrina was because of the immoral lifestyle of people living there. I wonder if he has connected this tragedy with the fact that those states voted for Huckabee the night before?

[danstoned]

jwind11

I am 58 year of age and retired. I do not live off of some government welfare program as do so many Republicons. HOw bout your US Military Welfare program as a prime example? You Republicons are all so stereotypical in that you only see the world through belligerent blinders.

[jwind11]

danstoned:

with your spelling skills and not being able to answer simple question, I rest my case.

[mwhc1]

"Prayers can help and so can the government," he said.

That''s it?? This is the best the leader of the free world can do??? Prayers dont mean *** when u have no house, no car or no money. Prayers are worth *** - and so is this president.

[singingrick]

Ooops! Sorry America, that money has already been earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction.

Best of luck!

Your President,
George Bush

[liberalme]

What is it that Bush or next President can do that will improve your life??
Posted by jwind11

If this government would hold Bush and his "gang" responsible for invading an unarmed country, being responsible for the deaths of thousands, lying to the very people he''s supposed to represent, not to mention the world.
If the next president would bring back the Constitution, gain back the respect and trust we once had from other countries, allow no "perks" to corporations who have taken their production out of this country and put Americans out of work, efficiently handle the immigration problem and bring Americans back together then---that would make me very happy.

Most Americans are happy people, but have become very frustrated with the current "terrorists" running this country.

[mcvet]

Is this a joke or what?? LOL These folks have been promised money that IS NOT THERE! The Balanced Budget and the surplus the Republican''s were handed? It''s all gone and they have BORROWED Trillions to give tax cuts to those who need it the least! Just think a few more years of the Republican Party and promises will be all that anyone can expect!! You know PROMISES like... Oh it''ll trickle down to you just be patient! LOL

[jwind11]

Typical liberals harping on the trickle down. People are responsible for themselves. The government is not responsible for you. Welfare is ok if temporary, everyone needs temporary help sometimes. But its a way of life for some. Liberals want it that way, thats how democrats get votes. Bush or the next president not responsible for my actions or my way of life, that is up to me. Must be miserable to rely on someone else to dictate your life for you.

[michellem99-2009]

People in this nation
they give love ones
to die in a war
Yet when they are in nrrd
That asre said sorry
People they are hurting here
This may sould cold
I could care less about that war
let do for us for achange
the war of bush will stop
We will cry and suffer as he
sells us out.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by jwind11 at 08:45 PM : Feb 07, 2008

Well, then, God bless you...and if you ever have a catastropic event, I hope not a *** soul comes to help you, since you don''t need it or appreciate it.

[libsluvsuvs]

What is it that Bush or next President can do that will improve your life??
Posted by jwind11

If this government would hold Bush and his "gang" responsible for invading an unarmed country, being responsible for the deaths of thousands, lying to the very people he''''s supposed to represent, not to mention the world.
If the next president would bring back the Constitution, gain back the respect and trust we once had from other countries, allow no "perks" to corporations who have taken their production out of this country and put Americans out of work, efficiently handle the immigration problem and bring Americans back together then---that would make me very happy.

Most Americans are happy people, but have become very frustrated with the current "terrorists" running this country.

Posted by liberalme at 06:36 PM : Feb 07, 2008
+ report abuse

**************8

a famous liberal president once said "ask NOT what your country can do for you...but ask what you can do for your country"..

after reading what most liberals WROTE, it seems like thru the decades..these liberals had become too comfortable..too fat..too needy..too weak,,..ITS PATHETIC..

[jt_lancer]

What''s another $100 million or so matter when the government''s already trillions of dollars in debt?

More debt to burden the next generation with.

[michellem99-2009]

I was a small child when Kennedy was in the white house..I could not read.I also think ye missing i have a dream by dr king..What can we do for this nation get off yer bum and use yer head and get back to what this nation should be..some one said the terrorists running this nation..care to say who it is..YER VOTE..YE THINK LONG AND HARD WHO SHOULD BE IT THAT OVAL OFFICE FOR WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT OUR NATION BACK.

[iceman_1960]

"Question to the Bush bashers:
What is it that Bush or next President can do that will improve your life?? "
- Posted by jwind11 at 02:44 PM : Feb 07, 2008

Bush could go on national TV, apologize for his 8 years in office, and then immediately resign.

[iceman_1960]

"Bush could go on national TV, apologize for his 8 years in office, and then immediately resign."

After first accepting D*ick Cheney"s resignation.

President Nancy Pelosi: I like the sound of that.

[iceman_1960]

"Just because you are upset with where your life is, do not blame the president."
- Posted by jwind11 at 02:44 PM : Feb 07, 2008

Who said I"m upset with where my life is ? My life is fine.

I"m upset at Bush"s failure to earn his salary with a performance of even minimal competence.

[jwind11]

iceman_1960 life:

4 years ago he is angry man, doesn''t know why, just angry. Turns on MTV, sees Sean Penn and Rosie Odonnell bashing someone named George Bush, he remembers that someone named George Bush is President. "Eureka!" he says, that is why I am such an angry man, because Sean Penn and Rosie Odonnell says I should be angry at the President. Iceman spends next 4 years posting immature angry comments about Bush, blaming him for everything. Makes him feel better about himself, easier to misdirect anger than to really do some soul searching to determine where real anger is stemming from.

Fast forward to 2010, Hillary is president, Iceman still angry, doesnt know why, turns on MTV, can''t find Sean or Rosie to tell him who to be angry at. Iceman gets confused, screams to self "who am i supposed to be angry at now?", 2 possible scenarios, has nervous breakdown because confused on why angry or picks up phonebook and finds number to a good counselor.

[easeup-2009]

jwind11

LOL!!!!

Add Michelle to that post--she is suffering from a bad case of Bush Derangement Syndrome as well.