ENGLISH     NYT1113EtornadoE
   
Many Reported Missing in Storms Are Found Alive
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:41 p.m. ET

MOSSY GROVE, Tenn. (AP) -- Thirty-nine people who had been missing after a deadly tornado tore through 
the area turned up alive Tuesday, as survivors of storms in 13 states struggled to put their lives 
back together.

Around the Morgan County community, clothes fluttered from tree limbs, power lines dangled from poles, 
cars lay crumpled like discarded toys.
 
``Yesterday, we had a nice brick house and four vehicles. Today, we don't own a toothbrush,'' said 
Susan Henry of Mossy Grove, the devastated tiny town about 40 miles west of Knoxville.

One person remained missing in the area, down from an initial high of 40, state emergency management 
officials said Tuesday. Rescuers had thought most of them were alive but out of touch with family 
because the storm disabled phones and blocked roads. Seven people were killed in eastern Tennessee's 
Morgan County, which includes Mossy Grove.

In Tennessee's Coffee County, an aunt of 10-year-old Hobart Martinez, who was killed when his home 
collapsed, dug with her hands in the muddy heap of her relatives' belongings, looking for family 
photos and mementos -- and found a box for the boy's favorite toy, PlayStation.

``He was a sweet, lovable person,'' Michelle Blanco said.

More than 70 tornadoes and thunderstorms during the weekend and into Monday killed at least 35 people 
in five states. Sixteen deaths were reported in Tennessee, 12 in Alabama, five in Ohio and one each in 
Mississippi and Pennsylvania. More than 200 people were injured.

In one Mississippi county alone, 87 homes were destroyed, officials said Tuesday. Crews in Lowndes County 
still were measuring the damage to businesses, said emergency management director Larry Miller. 
Across the state, damage will be in the millions of dollars, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove said.

In 17 Ohio counties, the American Red Cross estimated Tuesday that 109 homes, businesses and other 
buildings were destroyed.

Utility crews struggled to restore electricity and power Tuesday and Morgan County schools were closed.

Elementary and junior high classes also were canceled in Carbon Hill, Ala., where most of Alabama's deaths 
occurred, and Walker County school Superintendent Alan Trotter said Tuesday he doubted the school could be 
repaired.

``It's like a car in a head-on collision,'' Trotter said of the school building. ``The tail lights might 
not be damaged but the car is useless.''

Convoys of utility trucks rolled through the streets of Carbon Hill, where disrupted utilities meant 
residents had to spend the night without heat as temperatures fell into the 50s.

``We just put a couple of extra blankets on,'' said Larry Hinds of Acworth, Ga., who came to Carbon Hill 
to help his 91-year-old mother, Jeanette Hinds, whose home was slammed but not destroyed by a falling tree.

Tennessee was among the hardest hit Sunday, with one twister packing 113 mph wind as it ripped a 200- to 
300-yard-wide path through Mossy Grove.

Digging out could take weeks, said Steven Hamby, Morgan County director of emergency medical services.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the National Weather Service posted a new round of tornado warnings in southeastern 
Georgia as a storm system stretched along the East Coast. Two people were reported injured and there was 
scattered wind damage. Up the coast, flood warnings were posted in North Carolina as more than 2 inches 
of rain fell in parts of the state.

About a dozen tornadoes struck northern Alabama on Sunday night, including one with wind of up to 150 mph 
that tore a path of more than 50 miles, one of the longest on record in the state.

Jean Mayfield hadn't been home from church for more than 15 minutes when her little house began shaking 
as a tornado roared by in the darkness.

``You could just hear this wood screeching and tearing up,'' Mayfield said. ``I just thank God for 
saving us.''

In northwest Ohio, a tornado packing wind of more than 200 mph was one of dozens that flattened factories 
and farm houses across 100 miles Sunday.

In Port Clinton, Ohio, 77-year-old Betty Molner watched relatives carry clothing and blankets out of 
her house, which no longer had a roof.

``We've lived here almost 40 years,'' she said Tuesday as she looked into her picture window and a living 
room filled with tree limbs. ``We built it ourselves from the ground up.''

National Weather Service teams think the tornado that hit Van Wert, Ohio, about 70 miles southwest of 
Fort Clinton, was a category F4, the second most severe on the scale for measuring tornado damage, 
said John Taylor, a meteorologist in Syracuse, Ind. The last tornado that strong to hit northwest 
Ohio was Feb. 18, 1992, also in Van Wert County, he said.

Henry and her husband and two children survived the Mossy Grove storms by taking shelter in the 
basement of a neighbor's home that collapsed around them.

``It was just deafening it was so loud,'' said 17-year-old Tabatha Henry. ``You could hear the wood 
pop in the house, and that was it. Then all you could hear was the screaming and praying.''

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On the Net:

National Weather Service: National Weather Service
Tornado Facts: Tornado Facts