413 lines
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413 lines
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news
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worldnews
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northamerica
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usa
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8485230
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-----
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# Tornadoes hit America: 'He went up, and just floated back down to the
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ground'
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## As the United States struggles to come to terms with the devastation of
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swathes of its country and mourns for the 337 victims, Jon Swaine hears
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stories of survival.
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![Tornados hit America: 'He went up, and just floated back down to the
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ground'][1]
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Image 1 of 5
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A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Ala. Photo: AP
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![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][2]
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Image 1 of 5
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A telegraph pole hangs from wires in front of a church in downtown Cullman,
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Ala Photo: AP
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![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][3]
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Image 1 of 5
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Rescue workers search a hillside in Concord, Ala. Photo: AP
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![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][4]
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Image 1 of 5
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Rescue workers tend to an injured person in Concord, Ala. Photo: AP
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![Storms unleash deadly tornado on Alabama ][5]
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Image 1 of 5
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Amy Ledford stands amongst the remains of her house near Athens, Ala. Photo:
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AP
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[![Jon Swaine][6]][7]
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By [Jon Swaine][8], Pleasant Grove, Alabama 12:51PM BST 30 Apr 2011
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[Follow Jon Swaine on Twitter][9]
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It had been a beautiful spring Wednesday in Pleasant Grove, but by late
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afternoon Jeannie Gray was furious. Storms were gathering above her home on
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Eighth Avenue, and the power had been cut.
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Keen for information, she slipped some batteries into the back of her portable
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radio - but discovered they were spent.
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"I went to my parents' house," said Mrs Gray, 52. "I couldn't get the radio to
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work and it made me mad. I went over to theirs because their power had come
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back on".
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It was a decision that would save her life.
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As Mrs Gray chatted to her mother and father, the storms intensified and local
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warning sirens were sounded. She chose to eat dinner and run a bath before
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driving back.
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## Related Articles
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* [Obama visits tornado hit Alabama][10]
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29 Apr 2011
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* [US storms: tornado blows shop sign 112 miles][11]
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29 Apr 2011
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* [What is a tornado?][12]
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29 Apr 2011
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* ['Catastrophic' tornadoes bring death to American south][13]
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29 Apr 2011
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* [US in shock as storms kill 300][14]
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29 Apr 2011
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* [Obama declares state of emergency in Alabama][15]
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28 Apr 2011
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By the time she and her husband Jeff got home, Pleasant Grove, which lies 12
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miles west of Birmingham, was in ruins.
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A tornado had torn through the town, leaving at least 10 of its 10,000
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residents dead and many of its streets completely obliterated. Neighbours were
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digging desperately at piles of rubble, searching for relatives.
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Where her own £60,000 home of 13 years had stood proud hours earlier, Mrs Gray
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found only a livid heap of wooden planks, twisted masonry and remains of the
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belongings in which her family's memories had been stored.
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"I just can't believe this," she said. "All I have is what I have on".
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Like many in this devastated place, though, she was thankful; the belt of
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violent tornadoes that touched down across seven states in** [America][16]
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**last week killed at least 337 of her fellow southerners.
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Swept away by a fierce procession of at least 137 twisters, they were victims
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of what has become the country's second deadliest ever tornado outbreak, its
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toll exceeded only by the 747 who perished in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana
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in March 1925.
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One of Wednesday's tornadoes, a 205mph monster that killed at least 13 in
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Smithville, Mississippi, ranked in the National Weather Service's most
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devastating category, with several more expected to receive the same
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classification.
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Another, which devastated Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was captured on spectacular
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amateur video footage, was a mile wide - 20 times more than average.
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"It was God working, God not making the batteries work," Mrs Gray said. "I was
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so mad. I fussed about it. And I just thank God that they didn't work. We
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would have been killed."
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Six miles west, in the tiny village of Concord, Kate Chandler and her husband
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Jacob were paying a similar tribute.
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As the thunder crashed on Wednesday, the 23-year-olds had fled their small
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£63,000 home with their three-week-old son, taking refuge in the basement of
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Kate's parent's house, 10 minutes away in Hueytown.
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"As we sat in the car on the driveway, preparing to go, we said: 'Please Lord,
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protect this house and get us through this storm'," said Mrs Chandler.
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At 6pm, once the tornados had passed through, they emerged from their
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candlelit hiding place and returned. Their house was one of only a handful out
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of Concord's 750 or so still standing. Six people were dead.
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"Even my potted plants were all still there," Mrs Chandler, an air
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conditioning salesman, told _The Sunday Telegraph_. "Our neighbours' houses
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had been completely flattened. My husband started to cry and fell to his
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knees. He said: 'Thank you Lord'."
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At least 246 people were killed in Alabama, 34 in Mississippi, another 34 in
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Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia, two in Louisiana and one in
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Kentucky.
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Dozens are still missing, thousands were injured and a million of those whose
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homes survived have been left without power.
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Search and rescue missions were continuing across the region, with
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investigators unleashing dogs into the wreckage to seek out potential
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survivors or - as was unfortunately more likely - more victims.
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Thomas Lee, a father of 13, was killed shielding his family in the den of his
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house in Shoal Creek Valley, which was destroyed.
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Doug Philips, a friend of the family, wrote on his blog that Mr Lee "always
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had a sparkle in his eyes".
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"Tom Lee had the presence of mind to throw himself on top of his children,
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including his first-born son Jordan," he wrote.
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"Looking up at his father Jordan saw the blood in his father's mouth and
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witnessed as the breath began to leave his father."
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Mr Lee was survived by his wife Sherry and all of his children, who are aged
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between three and 27.
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Questions were meanwhile being raised about the region's preparedness. Local
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weather officials had been advising for days that an "insane" storm system was
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on its way, and tornado warning sirens were set off in good time.
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But some residents have asked why evacuations weren't proposed, while
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suggesting that sirens have become ignored through over-use.
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Robert Bentley, the Governor of Alabama, has mounted a robust defence of his
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administration's actions.
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"We were very prepared, but it was just the force of the storms," he said.
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"When a large tornado hits a highly populated area like Tuscaloosa, you can
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not move thousands of people in five minutes." Meteorologists appear to agree.
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Surveying the destruction on Friday in Tuscaloosa, which with 45 dead and 990
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injured was the region's worst hit city, President Barack Obama said: "I've
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never seen devastation like this. It is heartbreaking."
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Mr Obama promised federal aid to help repair the estimated $5 billion (£3
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billion) damage.
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Walt Maddox, the mayor of the 83,000-strong city, said it faced a
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"humanitarian crisis".
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To a man who began weeping during Mr Maddox's comments, the mayor said: "You
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have the right to cry. And I can tell you the people of Tuscaloosa are crying
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with you."
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After the shock and the loss has come the fear of what comes next. Petrol is
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being rationed at $20 worth person in some areas, while rumours that water
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supplies were running dangerously low have prompted various outbreaks of panic
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fillings of buckets and bathtubs around the state.
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Still more depressing has been the inevitable exploitation of the chaos by
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looters who would steal from townmates whose entire lives have been strewn
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across streets with upended trees, cars and debris.
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Three 18-year-olds were put in cells in Jefferson, with several other arrests
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elsewhere. On Saturday night soldiers from the National Guard were enforcing
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strict lock-downs and curfews in the worst affected areas. One protecting
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Pleasant Grove, his rifle slung over a shoulder, told _The Sunday Telegraph_:
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"Nobody is going in who doesn't live there."
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Sergeant Jack Self, of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, said: "These
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are the worst kind of scum to prey on the people who have been affected in
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this tragedy." He promised to "lock in jail" any more thieves he found.
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Most people, however, were mobilising to provide for those in need. Ray
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Glover, a pastor at the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, was leading dozens of
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local residents in an effort to turn a church hall into a rescue centre for
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people who had been left homeless.
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Dozens of police officers and national guardsmen, meanwhile, were working out
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of J.R.'s Barbershop, in Bessemer, which had been turned into a makeshift
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command centre.
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More miraculous stories of those who had cheated death were emerging.
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Reginald Eppes, from Coaling, described how his eight-year-old son Reginald
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jr. survived being "sucked into the air" by a tornado after the walls of his
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bedroom simply "crumpled like paper".
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"He went up, and just floated back down to the ground," Mr Eppes, a 35-year-
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old fireman, told local radio.
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"He saw the light, those flashlights that I had in my hands ... And he walked
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back to them. That's how he found us."
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[X][17] Share & bookmark
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[What are these?][18]
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* Share: [Share][17] [ ][19] [ ][20]
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[Tweet][21]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8485230/Tornadoes-
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hit-America-He-went-up-and-just-floated-back-down-to-the-ground.html
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Telegraph
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## [USA][16]
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* ### [News »][22]
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* ### [World News »][23]
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* ### [North America »][24]
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* ### [Jon Swaine »][25]
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In news
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[![Rock climbing with tents: climbers hang off the sides of vertical cliffs
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sleeping in tents][26] ][27]
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### [A tent with a view][27]
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[![US President Barack Obama's state visit to Britain: day two in
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pictures][28] ][29]
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### [Obamas visit Britain: day two][29]
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[![Queen Elizabeth II and US President Barack Obama during a State Banquet in
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Buckingham Palace,][30] ][31]
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### [Obamas visit Britain: day one][31]
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[![Lacy Tasker salvages what she can from her mothers house after it was
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destroyed when a massive tornado passed through the town on May 24, 2011 in
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Joplin, Missouri][32] ][33]
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### [Newest tornado pictures][33]
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[![The Milky Way stretches across the night sky behind a rock arch in Arches
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National Park, Utah. Bret Webster uses the night skies of the national parks
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of his home state of Utah as his canvas to create images that highlight the
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relative insignificance of the Earth in the cosmos.][34] ][35]
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### [The Milky Way over the desert][35]
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[X][17] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][18]
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Share:
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* [ ][17]
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* [ ][19]
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* [ ][20]
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* [Tweet][21]
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* Advertisement
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![][36]
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Advertisement
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[Follow The Telegraph on Social Media »][37]
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