Tornado-ravaged areas hit by snowstorm, cold

WEST LIBERTY, Kentucky (Reuters) - A winter snow storm added to the woes on Monday of tornado-struck Indiana and Kentucky, dropping several inches of snow on the ravaged region where dozens of people were killed, meteorologists said.

Overnight, three to five inches of snow fell in southern Indiana and north-central Kentucky, where recovery efforts were underway after Friday's deadly twisters, the National Weather Service said.

The fast-moving tornadoes, numbering at least 30, splintered blocks of homes and tossed around vehicles like toys.

Officials said the death toll was at least 39 -- 21 in Kentucky, 13 in Indiana, three in Ohio and one in Alabama. Georgia also reported a storm-related death.

One casualty was a toddler who survived a tornado in New Pekin, Indiana, and was found alive in a field. However, the 14-month-old girl died of her injuries Sunday. Her mother, father and two siblings also were killed.

In hard-hit West Liberty, Kentucky, the wet, heavy snow is contributing to the danger of more structural damage to buildings already weakened by the storm.

The snow has already caused the collapse of 20-foot by 30-foot tent set up to serve meals to emergency workers and survivors. Kentucky Baptist Convention volunteers shifted meal service to a crowded community center.

The snow had started to melt by early afternoon, and the region will have a break from storms the remainder of the week to focus on clean-up, according to the National Weather Service.

West Liberty's main street was congested with emergency workers, insurance inspectors and security personnel Monday morning, as shop owners and employees tried to return to their stores to assess the damage.

Among them were Linda Oakley, who along with her husband, Dale Oakley, accompanied firefighters into the storm-damaged All Occasion Flowers.

They used flashlights to survey the pitch-black store and found it a mess -- water on the floor, insulation hanging from the ceiling and smashed pots. Mysteriously, some floral arrangements on light-weight shelves remained intact. Thomas, the store cat, was found alive, but he wouldn't come out of his hiding place.

"Anything we can do to get back to normal business, (residents) will see that as a reason to believe we can recover," said Linda Oakley, an employee at the shop.

The region's weather was clearing on Monday and the snow was melting as of Monday afternoon, giving workers some relief as they tackled the massive recovery effort.

Like the interior of the flower shop, the homes of West Liberty showed the bizarre random nature of tornadoes -- some destroyed, some untouched. In front of a West Liberty house that had been undamaged, children were building a snowman.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear said on Sunday the storm had caused at least $5.8 million in property damage. He described the scene in West Liberty as "total devastation" and signed an executive order barring price gouging for food and other necessities.

Reports of looting began to surface late Friday, according to the Kentucky State Police, though the situation is now under control. As recently as Sunday afternoon, police stopped a vehicle on a back road that was trying to leave a home with a load full of stolen copper, said Albert Hale, the emergency manager for Laurel County.

The opportunity for looters is clearly visible -- even from a busy highway drivers can view destroyed homes where items such as televisions sit unattended. Hale estimated that seven miles worth of damaged homes need to be monitored. In hard-hit areas, officials stopped drivers to make sure they had a good reason to be in the area.

The extra security means Tracy Pitman in Laurel County, Kentucky does not have to worry about thieves while sitting in her small recreational vehicle with her grandson.

For her, the bigger concern is planning the Wednesday funeral for her father-in-law and mother-in-law, both killed Friday during the storm. The family is planning to create a cemetery behind the spot where the family's homes used to stand.

"That's the way our parents wanted it to be," Pitman said.

The violent storms raised fears that 2012 would be another bad year for tornadoes after 550 deaths in the United States were blamed on twisters last year, the deadliest year in nearly a century, according to the National Weather Service.

AccuWeather.com reported that Friday's storms may be one of the worst tornado outbreaks for early March on record, with 80 sightings between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.

March and April are typically busy months for tornadoes, and it is difficult to predict how bad the rest of the tornado season would be, according to Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist, NOAA's National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

(Reporting by John Stoll and Andy Stern; Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Editing By Ellen Wulfhorst, Paul Thomasch and Greg McCune)

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Homeowners gradually rebuild in tornado-ravaged Joplin (Reuters)

JOPLIN, Mo (Reuters) – Four months ago, a tornado swept Rick and Jolene Huffman out of their house and dumped them unconscious into a clearing more than a block away.

A harrowing way to lose their home and nearly their lives but the Huffmans are rebuilding on the same spot, undaunted by memories of the tornado or devastation of their neighborhood.

"It will look a little haggard here for a while, but it will bounce back," Jolene Huffman said.

Slowly, new homes are sprouting from the ruins of the May 22 tornado in Joplin. The city has issued 307 permits to build new homes, a figure that has climbed by 25 to 30 each week.

Each house is a step toward recovery from the tornado that wiped out about 7,500 homes and took 162 lives, said Troy Bolander, manager of planning and community development for Joplin.

"The shock is just now wearing off, and that is understandable," Bolander said. "People lost their home and everything else and they didn't want to face the future.

"What is encouraging and what may help is people seeing something going up. They don't want to be the only home on the block," he said.

To rebuild in Joplin demands tolerance of a stark landscape of barren lots, shredded trees and damaged properties that remain standing. Many residents still can't get used to the empty horizon.

"This was pretty wooded around here, and now you can basically see from here to the Kansas state line," said John Hughes, who is building a new home where his old one was destroyed.

Hughes plans to plant 35-foot trees around his house.

"We can't wait for the trees to grow again. We have to buy instant shade," he said.

Like the Huffmans, Hughes said he and his wife, Carla Hughes, chose to rebuild for practical reasons -- close to jobs, close to relatives, a familiar location.

"I was hoping more of our neighbors would come back, but they chose to do something else," Hughes said.

Construction contractor Harlin Stoner, who is building the Huffmans' home on the same slab where the previous house stood, said many people can't bring themselves to rebuild.

"They are devastated and shocked, and some don't want to deal with it," Stoner said.

Some empty lots have "For Sale By Owner" signs on them, others are listed through agencies.

Ryan Flanagan, a real estate agent in Joplin, said some people with young children don't want to live around empty lots that may have old foundations or debris. Other people simply don't want to wait for their house or neighborhood to get rebuilt, he said.

"It's going to be a long-term project, and it may be ten years before anything feels normal," Flanagan said.

Bolander said an estimated 88 percent of residents who lost their housing in the tornado still live within 25 miles of Joplin. Some rent, some bought other homes, some live with family members and some live in temporary housing provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Bolander said the city is doing a housing analysis to help predict how many people might stay in Joplin long-term.

Construction contractor John Adams said houses in many neighborhoods destroyed by the tornado were 70 or more years old. People with patience and foresight will be rewarded for rebuilding, he said.

"Sooner or later they will be surrounded by new homes," Adams said. "It will probably be much nicer than it ever was."

(Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Ellen Wulfhorst)

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Obama consoles tornado-ravaged Joplin (AP)

JOPLIN, Mo. – Exactly a week after Joplin was nearly leveled by the deadliest tornado to strike the U.S in decades, President Barack Obama visited the Missouri city to offer hope to survivors and promises of help.

Obama came face to face Sunday with the legions of homeless, consoling the community as it remembered the more than 130 people killed in the storm. The memorial service erupted in cheers when Obama said, "I promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way," a pledge he extended to all parts of the nation raked by violent storms this season.

The service punctuated a day of remembrance as authorities pressed on with the task of identifying the victims and volunteers combed through the apocalyptic landscape of wrecked neighborhoods where nothing was left whole.

Hundreds stood in Joplin's Cunningham Park for a moment of silence at 5:41 p.m. — to mark the first report of the tornado — surrounded by wrecked cars and twisted poles. Many in the crowd wore white T-shirts emblazoned, "Joplin's Heart Will Sing Again."

"We will rebuild Joplin," City Manager Mark Rohr told the crowd. "You have my word on it."

Obama made the same vow hours earlier during the service, telling locals: "We're not going to stop `til Joplin's back on its feet."

The Joplin tornado was the worst to hit the United States in decades. Hundreds were injured, and 39 people remained unaccounted for as of late Sunday. There are four more people whom family members have reported as deceased, but those deaths haven't been officially confirmed.

Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown — a land of flattened houses and stripped trees — on its approach to Joplin. On the ground, the destruction was even more stark and complete. Obama confronted painful sights at every turn and said nothing in his life measured up to what he saw this day.

Yet he spoke, too, of redemptive moments, the stoicism of the community and tales of plain luck. He told a story of a man he talked to who had taken a chicken pot pie out of the oven, heard the storm was coming, hid in a closet and "came out without a scratch." Obama celebrated the spirit of volunteers who have flocked to Joplin to help, the pickup truck owners who ferried people to the hospital and the citizens who lined up for hours to donate blood to people they don't know.

"You've demonstrated a simple truth," he told the service, "that amid heartbreak and tragedy no one is a stranger. Everybody is a brother. Everybody is a sister. We can all love one another."

The crowd of hundreds at the service reflected a community in the midst of rebuilding: people in shorts and baseball caps, and plenty of babies who occasionally burst out crying. The president talked over the screeching until a baby was hurried out by the mother.

Obama got a notably warm reception in this conservative part of Missouri. His remarks were tailored for a religious service, with quotes from scripture, references to the love that binds people to each other, and comments on the essential goodness of humanity. The stories of the storm lead us to "put aside our petty grievances," the president said. "There are heroes all around us, all the time. So, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example: to make each day count."

Known for his cool, even-tempered demeanor, Obama offered his own brand of comforting: eloquent words, plentiful handshakes, some hugs, pats on the heads of children, offers of "God bless you." Not for him the raw emotion Americans saw in his predecessors George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.

Before the service, Obama's motorcade pulled into a neighborhood where downed trees cleaved open houses, roofs were stripped or blown off, cars were cratered and splintered wood was everywhere. He saw nothing intact, but rather small domestic sights — a view into a room with a TV still in place, a recliner sitting amid rubble, a washer-dryer standing next to a decimated house. American flags were planted here and there in the mess.

"Sorry for your loss," Obama told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked. Another woman told him that her uncle lives up the road — he survived but his house did not. "Tell your uncle we're praying for him," the president said.

To those working at the scene, the president said: "We appreciate everything you guys are doing. God bless you." One volunteer told him that people were coming in from other states to help in any way they could.

"This is not just your tragedy," Obama said. "This is a national tragedy, and that means there will be a national response." He said: "We are going to be here long after the cameras leave."

___

Associated Press writer Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report.

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More severe weather headed for tornado-ravaged US (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – More severe weather is on the way for the southern and central United States, forecasters said on Monday, just days after the worst single tornado in modern US history killed 116 people in Missouri.

A new tornado watch was issued Monday for Oklahoma and parts of southern Kansas due to an "evolving tornado threat," said Russell Schneider, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center.

The central United States was warned to brace for more big storms on Tuesday.

"We are currently forecasting a major severe weather outbreak for Tuesday over the central United States with strong tornadoes likely over Oklahoma, Kansas, extreme northern Texas, southwest Missouri," Schneider said.

The warning was extended to the area around Joplin, Missouri, which was hit hard in the weekend tornado, and would also include cities like Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City.

"On Wednesday, the system will shift eastward to the Mississippi River valley," Schneider said, including central Illinois and Indiana, southeast Missouri and the southeastern states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and much of Arkansas.

The United States is on pace for a record year for deadly tornadoes, according to officials.

There have already been about 1,000 tornadoes this year, the National Weather Service said. The previous yearly record was set in 2004 with 1,817.

Prior to the twister that tore through Joplin on Sunday, there were 365 people confirmed killed by tornadoes in the United States in 2012, most of them in a spate of twisters that struck the south in April.

In June 1953, 116 people were killed by a tornado that struck Flint, Michigan, an event that has tied with the Joplin storm as the deadliest single twister since modern records began in 1950.

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