Clinton Tours Little Rock Damage

A tour of storm-damaged Arkansas was also a walk down memory lane for President Clinton Sunday. The president toured a Little Rock community hit by tornadoes just blocks from the governor's mansion, where he lived for 12 years.

"It was always such a joy to run through here in the spring and the fall because the trees were so great," Mr. Clinton said while walking through the neighborhood with Jamie Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]. "We'll just have to plant some more."

The Little Rock community was ravaged by one of 38 tornadoes that tore through Arkansas as part of an early-season storm that ripped across the Southeast. In all, more than 30 counties were hit in Arkansas. Gov. Mike Huckabee declared emergencies in 16 of them.

On Saturday, Witt toured historic Clarksville, Tenn., which was also hit hard by the storm.

The storms Thursday and Friday killed one in Tennessee and seven in Arkansas, and damaged thousands of homes and businesses.

Residents of the stricken areas were finally allowed to go home Saturday to see what remains. The streets of downtown Clarksville, one of the prettiest old towns in Tennessee, were barely recognizable to them.

Officially, tornado season in the mid-South doesn't begin until March. But that meant nothing to the dozens of tornadoes that rolled through a seven-state area Thursday and Friday, leaving thousands of homes and businesses damaged.

In Horn Lake, Miss., a single twister randomly picked off homes, and that's just the obvious damage. Contractor Erwin Vaughn knows even buildings that look safe might not be.

The American Red Cross set up shelters in the storm-ravaged areas and provided hot meals.

According to the Red Cross, the nation has had 101 tornadoes this month, which normally is the quietest for tornadoes. The previous mark for a January was 52 in 1975.