Tornadoes Sweep the South, Leaving 306 Dead

Tornadoes swept through seven Southern states, leaving at least 306 people dead and billions of dollars of damage in its wake.

More than 160 tornadoes were reported over several days last week in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana, and is the worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina, which killed up to 1,800 people in 2005.

Wednesday was the deadliest day of tornadoes in the country since April 3, 1974’s twister, when 310 people died. Wednesday’s mile-wide twister ripped through Tuscaloosa and may have been the biggest ever to hit the state according to AccuWeather.com meteorologist Josh Nagelberg.

President Barack Obama called the loss of life due to the week of tornadoes “heartbreaking,” and said the damage it caused to homes and businesses “nothing short of catastrophic.” He pledged strong federal support for rebuilding.

Reuters reported that whole neighborhoods were flattened, cars were overturned and trees and power lines were down. Rescue officials searched for survivors and found some miraculous survivors who were able to find shelter in bathtubs, closets and basements.

“I made it. I got in a closet, put a pillow over my face and held on for dear life because it started sucking me up,” said Angela Smith of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of the harder-hit cities.

In Birmingham, Alabama, Police Chief A.C. Roper said rescue workers searched “hand to hand” and “… rescued two babies, one that was trapped in a crib when the house fell down on top of the baby,” in an interview on PBS NewsHour.

Tornadoes, which are often a routine weather forecast in the South and Midwest, rarely cause so much damage. Insurance experts believe costs could reach the billions.

“In terms of the ground-up damage and quite possibly the insured damage, this event will be of historic proportions,” Jose Miranda, an executive with the catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT, told Reuters.

“I think this is going to rank up as one of the worst tornado outbreaks in U.S. history,” said Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate.

Fugate spoke in an interview with CNN from Alabama, where his agency said the tornadoes killed at least 204 people.

“We’re still trying to get people through rescues and locate the missing,” he said.

Other states’ officials issued a preliminary report of 33 deaths in Mississippi, 34 in Tennessee, 11 in Arkansas, 14 in Georgia, 8 in Virginia and 2 in Louisiana.

In addition, up to one million people in Alabama were left without power and storms struck and destroyed two hundred chicken houses, which held up to four million chickens.

“I want every American who has been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover, and we will stand with you as you rebuild,” Obama, who declared a state of emergency for Alabama, said at the White House.