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shipperxRecord Breaking Storms:
In the 24-hour period that ended at 8 a.m. CT Thursday, 163 tornadoes had been reported by eye witnesses. One of those, a mile-wide tornado that bisected Alabama, killed more than 160 people in that state alone, barely missing a college campus housing thousands of students, but leveling a large swatch of town with its destruction.
Officials are on the ground Thursday assessing the damage and delivering emergency services and supplies to the victims of the storm.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center said 2011 is already a record-breaking year for storm activity.
Keli Tarp, public information officer with the center, said 610 tornadoes have already been reported this month alone. That number likely will change as those eye-witness accounts are confirmed. "This year is likely to have a record number of tornados for the month of April," Tarp said. A record number of tornadoes brought with it a near-record number of deaths.
The weather system had killed at least 256 people in six southern states, based on figures obtained Thursday by the Raycom News Network. That number continues to rise.
Tennessee reported 33 dead, Mississippi reported 33 dead and Virginia eight. Both Arkansas and Georgia reported 11 dead.
Alabama took the hardest hit by far. As of lunchtime Thursday, 162 people were confirmed dead by the Alabama Emergency Management office.
A state of emergency was declared by the president shortly after the storms raged through.
In his statement Wednesday, Obama said he told Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, R-AL, he had ordered the federal government to move swiftly in its emergency response.
"I approved his request for emergency Federal assistance, including search and rescue assets," Obama said.
Especially hard hit was the city of Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama.
In the college town, a mile-wide tornado killed 32 people and injured hundreds, tossing boats from a store into an apartment complex, ripping holes in rooftops and destroying a swath of restaurant establishments along a bustling street.
"I don't know how anyone survived," the Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox told CNN. "We're used to tornadoes here in Tuscaloosa. It's part of growing up. But when you look at the path of destruction that's likely 5 to 7 miles long in an area half a mile to a mile wide ... it's an amazing scene. There's parts of the city I don't recognize, and that's someone that's lived here his entire life."
Hundreds of buildings and homes were leveled by the tornado. Overnight Wednesday, search and rescue personnel looked for victims who could be buried beneath the rubble.
Michael Neese, 21, a junior at the university, was in his apartment off 15th Street when the tornado passed by.
"It was like a white cloud just twirling in the parking lot next door to me," he said. "It tore Tuscaloosa up. All of 15th Street is gone."
The massive tornado left Tuscaloosa's two hospitals swirling in activity. One, in direct line of the storm, also suffered damage from the twister.
"We're estimating around 600 were treated at DCH Regional Medical Center," said Brad Fisher, DCH spokesman.
From another article:
The monster twisters forced three nuclear reactors in Alabama to shut, leaving about 245,000 households and businesses in Alabama without power.
