news worldnews northamerica usa 8485230 ----- # Tornadoes hit America: 'He went up, and just floated back down to the ground' ## As the United States struggles to come to terms with the devastation of swathes of its country and mourns for the 337 victims, Jon Swaine hears stories of survival. ![Tornados hit America: 'He went up, and just floated back down to the ground'][1] Image 1 of 5 A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Ala. Photo: AP ![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][2] Image 1 of 5 A telegraph pole hangs from wires in front of a church in downtown Cullman, Ala Photo: AP ![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][3] Image 1 of 5 Rescue workers search a hillside in Concord, Ala. Photo: AP ![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][4] Image 1 of 5 Rescue workers tend to an injured person in Concord, Ala. Photo: AP ![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][5] Image 1 of 5 Amy Ledford stands amongst the remains of her house near Athens, Ala. Photo: AP [![Jon Swaine][6]][7] By [Jon Swaine][8], Pleasant Grove, Alabama 12:51PM BST 30 Apr 2011 [Follow Jon Swaine on Twitter][9] It had been a beautiful spring Wednesday in Pleasant Grove, but by late afternoon Jeannie Gray was furious. Storms were gathering above her home on Eighth Avenue, and the power had been cut. Keen for information, she slipped some batteries into the back of her portable radio - but discovered they were spent. "I went to my parents' house," said Mrs Gray, 52. "I couldn't get the radio to work and it made me mad. I went over to theirs because their power had come back on". It was a decision that would save her life. As Mrs Gray chatted to her mother and father, the storms intensified and local warning sirens were sounded. She chose to eat dinner and run a bath before driving back. ## Related Articles * [Obama visits tornado hit Alabama][10] 29 Apr 2011 * [US storms: tornado blows shop sign 112 miles][11] 29 Apr 2011 * [What is a tornado?][12] 29 Apr 2011 * ['Catastrophic' tornadoes bring death to American south][13] 29 Apr 2011 * [US in shock as storms kill 300][14] 29 Apr 2011 * [Obama declares state of emergency in Alabama][15] 28 Apr 2011 By the time she and her husband Jeff got home, Pleasant Grove, which lies 12 miles west of Birmingham, was in ruins. A tornado had torn through the town, leaving at least 10 of its 10,000 residents dead and many of its streets completely obliterated. Neighbours were digging desperately at piles of rubble, searching for relatives. Where her own £60,000 home of 13 years had stood proud hours earlier, Mrs Gray found only a livid heap of wooden planks, twisted masonry and remains of the belongings in which her family's memories had been stored. "I just can't believe this," she said. "All I have is what I have on". Like many in this devastated place, though, she was thankful; the belt of violent tornadoes that touched down across seven states in** [America][16] **last week killed at least 337 of her fellow southerners. Swept away by a fierce procession of at least 137 twisters, they were victims of what has become the country's second deadliest ever tornado outbreak, its toll exceeded only by the 747 who perished in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana in March 1925. One of Wednesday's tornadoes, a 205mph monster that killed at least 13 in Smithville, Mississippi, ranked in the National Weather Service's most devastating category, with several more expected to receive the same classification. Another, which devastated Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was captured on spectacular amateur video footage, was a mile wide - 20 times more than average. "It was God working, God not making the batteries work," Mrs Gray said. "I was so mad. I fussed about it. And I just thank God that they didn't work. We would have been killed." Six miles west, in the tiny village of Concord, Kate Chandler and her husband Jacob were paying a similar tribute. As the thunder crashed on Wednesday, the 23-year-olds had fled their small £63,000 home with their three-week-old son, taking refuge in the basement of Kate's parent's house, 10 minutes away in Hueytown. "As we sat in the car on the driveway, preparing to go, we said: 'Please Lord, protect this house and get us through this storm'," said Mrs Chandler. At 6pm, once the tornados had passed through, they emerged from their candlelit hiding place and returned. Their house was one of only a handful out of Concord's 750 or so still standing. Six people were dead. "Even my potted plants were all still there," Mrs Chandler, an air conditioning salesman, told _The Sunday Telegraph_. "Our neighbours' houses had been completely flattened. My husband started to cry and fell to his knees. He said: 'Thank you Lord'." At least 246 people were killed in Alabama, 34 in Mississippi, another 34 in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia, two in Louisiana and one in Kentucky. Dozens are still missing, thousands were injured and a million of those whose homes survived have been left without power. Search and rescue missions were continuing across the region, with investigators unleashing dogs into the wreckage to seek out potential survivors or - as was unfortunately more likely - more victims. Thomas Lee, a father of 13, was killed shielding his family in the den of his house in Shoal Creek Valley, which was destroyed. Doug Philips, a friend of the family, wrote on his blog that Mr Lee "always had a sparkle in his eyes". "Tom Lee had the presence of mind to throw himself on top of his children, including his first-born son Jordan," he wrote. "Looking up at his father Jordan saw the blood in his father's mouth and witnessed as the breath began to leave his father." Mr Lee was survived by his wife Sherry and all of his children, who are aged between three and 27. Questions were meanwhile being raised about the region's preparedness. Local weather officials had been advising for days that an "insane" storm system was on its way, and tornado warning sirens were set off in good time. But some residents have asked why evacuations weren't proposed, while suggesting that sirens have become ignored through over-use. Robert Bentley, the Governor of Alabama, has mounted a robust defence of his administration's actions. "We were very prepared, but it was just the force of the storms," he said. "When a large tornado hits a highly populated area like Tuscaloosa, you can not move thousands of people in five minutes." Meteorologists appear to agree. Surveying the destruction on Friday in Tuscaloosa, which with 45 dead and 990 injured was the region's worst hit city, President Barack Obama said: "I've never seen devastation like this. It is heartbreaking." Mr Obama promised federal aid to help repair the estimated $5 billion (£3 billion) damage. Walt Maddox, the mayor of the 83,000-strong city, said it faced a "humanitarian crisis". To a man who began weeping during Mr Maddox's comments, the mayor said: "You have the right to cry. And I can tell you the people of Tuscaloosa are crying with you." After the shock and the loss has come the fear of what comes next. Petrol is being rationed at $20 worth person in some areas, while rumours that water supplies were running dangerously low have prompted various outbreaks of panic fillings of buckets and bathtubs around the state. Still more depressing has been the inevitable exploitation of the chaos by looters who would steal from townmates whose entire lives have been strewn across streets with upended trees, cars and debris. Three 18-year-olds were put in cells in Jefferson, with several other arrests elsewhere. On Saturday night soldiers from the National Guard were enforcing strict lock-downs and curfews in the worst affected areas. One protecting Pleasant Grove, his rifle slung over a shoulder, told _The Sunday Telegraph_: "Nobody is going in who doesn't live there." Sergeant Jack Self, of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, said: "These are the worst kind of scum to prey on the people who have been affected in this tragedy." He promised to "lock in jail" any more thieves he found. Most people, however, were mobilising to provide for those in need. Ray Glover, a pastor at the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, was leading dozens of local residents in an effort to turn a church hall into a rescue centre for people who had been left homeless. Dozens of police officers and national guardsmen, meanwhile, were working out of J.R.'s Barbershop, in Bessemer, which had been turned into a makeshift command centre. More miraculous stories of those who had cheated death were emerging. Reginald Eppes, from Coaling, described how his eight-year-old son Reginald jr. survived being "sucked into the air" by a tornado after the walls of his bedroom simply "crumpled like paper". "He went up, and just floated back down to the ground," Mr Eppes, a 35-year- old fireman, told local radio. "He saw the light, those flashlights that I had in my hands ... And he walked back to them. That's how he found us." [X][17] Share & bookmark Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! 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