Obama ramps up recovery help for tornado-hit South

The US government on Saturday ramped up efforts to help thousands of homeless victims of the country's second deadliest tornado outbreak on record that killed at least 350 people. President Barack Obama, who surveyed the tornado destruction in the worst-hit state of Alabama on Friday and called it "heartbreaking," was sending top officials to the disaster zone this weekend to escalate federal assistance.
With some estimates putting the number of homes and buildings destroyed at close to 10,000, state and federal authorities in the US South were still coming to terms with the scale of this week's devastation from the country's worst natural catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Thousands of stunned survivors, many of whom had seen relatives and friends killed by twisters that obliterated whole communities, were camped out in the shattered shells of their homes or moved into shelters or with friends. One disaster risk modeller, EQECAT, is forecasting insured property losses of between $2 billion and $5 billion from the havoc inflicted by the swarm of tornadoes that gouged through seven southern states this week.
"It is like living in some other world. Devastation is everywhere," said Pastor John Gates of the United Methodist Church in Pleasant Grove, Alabama, a community with a population of some 10,000 west of Birmingham. Alabama, the hardest-hit state, revised down its fatalities to 249 on Saturday after initially reporting 255 dead. At least 101 more deaths were reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana.
The death toll, which is expected to rise, was the second highest inflicted by tornadoes in US history. In 1925, 747 people were killed after twisters hit the US Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Unlocking federal assistance, Obama late on Friday signed major disaster declarations for Mississippi and Georgia, adding to the one already signed for Alabama. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills were all due to visit devastated areas in Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday, FEMA said.
Obama, mindful of criticism that President George W. Bush was too slow to respond to the 2005 Katrina catastrophe, visited the wrecked city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Friday to pledge full federal assistance for states hit. In many devastated communities, scenes of tangled piles of rubble, timber, vehicles and personal possessions recalled the destruction seen in the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Power and water were still out in many areas. "It's not an exaggeration to say that whole communities were wiped out," Yasamie August, spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, told Reuters. Officials said even solidly built brick houses had been unable to withstand the force of some of the twisters.
The winds of one in Smithville, Mississippi, was recorded reaching 205 miles (328 km) per hour. It was a rare EF-5 tornado, the highest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale that measures tornado intensity. Many whose homes only lost roofs and windows were camping inside with tarps and plastic sheeting over them, but those whose houses were completely razed were forced to move in with family or friends or go into government shelters.
There were 659 people in shelters across Alabama, August said. Tennessee had 233 people in shelters. Volunteers in many communities turned out to help. "Big grills are set up everywhere to offer people food. The community has really pulled together," said Tammy Straate, 29, a Pleasant Grove foster mother who cares for 11 children.