NEW: "Our world will never be the same," a Mississippi pastor says
NEW: The University of Alabama's student newspaper is trying to track down the missingA tornado that decimated a north Alabama town is upgraded to EF5FEMA's director is among the federal officials visiting the area
Smithville, Mississippi (CNN) -- Several top federal officials toured tornado-ravaged areas of the South as churches honored the storms' victims in Sunday services.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate were among the officials visiting parts of Alabama and Mississippi decimated by one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
The visit comes as damage reports from Wednesday's storms grow and the number of dead and injured mounts. The death toll had climbed to 339 Sunday, according to emergency management officials in six states.
"We were changed. Our world will never be the same. This moment will forever be etched in the forefront of all our imaginations," Pastor Wes White said at a service in Smithville, Mississippi, where at least 15 people were killed in the storms.
var currExpandable = "expand14";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap === 'object') {CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var currExpandableHeight = 360;mediaObj.lgImage= $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('src');mediaObj.lgImageX = 640;mediaObj.lgImageY = currExpandableHeight;mediaObj.origImageX = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('width'); mediaObj.origImageY = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('height');mediaObj.contentType = 'Video';CNN.expElements.expand14Store = mediaObj;var currExpandable = "expand24";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap === 'object') {CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var currExpandableHeight = 360;mediaObj.lgImage= $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('src');mediaObj.lgImageX = 640;mediaObj.lgImageY = currExpandableHeight;mediaObj.origImageX = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('width'); mediaObj.origImageY = $(currExpandable).select('img.box-image')[0].readAttribute('height');mediaObj.contentType = 'Video';CNN.expElements.expand24Store = mediaObj;
A tornado demolished the Smithville Baptist Church, but White urged several hundred congregants gathered under a tent Sunday not to lose hope, but to turn to Jesus.
"In these moments of change and in these moments of hurt, as we look on what was our precious building ... let me remind you of this truth first: when you don't know what to do, you can know where to go," he said.
Alabama's governor declared Sunday a day of prayer to honor victims Sunday, as the funeral of at least one -- University of Alabama graphic design student Morgan Sigler -- was scheduled to take place.
Sigler huddled in a hallway with friends as the tornado hit. But the twister demolished everything in the house but a closet, where one friend took shelter and survived, later finding Sigler's body in the rubble across the street.
"She just lit up our world; she was our baby," mother Vega Sigler said Saturday. "We know where she's at, but it doesn't make it any easier."
Sigler's story is one of scores of heart-rending tales emerging from the battered South.
In Alabama -- the state hit hardest by Wednesday's storms -- the death toll Sunday morning was 250 and the number of injured was 2,219, emergency management officials said. Nearly a half million customers in the state remained without power.
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said his city, where at least 39 people have died, faces a "humanitarian crisis." Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for and many more have been rendered homeless, he said.
Rescuers and volunteers were canvasing neighborhoods, searching for missing victims and people left homeless by the storm.
Some have remained in partially damaged homes or moved in with relatives, volunteer Martin Izaguirre said. In the Hispanic community, he said, many are afraid to go to shelters.
He said some have told him, "We are afraid we won't be welcomed in places where Spanish is not spoken."
While searchers fan out across the city, some have taken a more high-tech approach. The University of Alabama's Crimson White student newspaper is trying to track down some of the city's missing using the #UAMissing hashtag on Twitter, said Hannah Mask, a former editor who has been working on the project.
"It's been really efficient," she said, noting that the list of those unaccounted for seems to be decreasing.
Damage to larger Alabama cities such as Birmingham and Tuscaloosa may have been greater than the damage suffered by smaller towns, but rural areas will likely have a harder time recovering, Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said.
"In terms of suffering, these people have lost their loved ones, they've lost their community. There are people who don't have home to return to," Foster said.
She noted the sad response she received from one Hackleburg, Alabama, resident after asking her whether the town could recover.
The woman simply shook her head, Foster said.
The National Weather Service has upgraded a tornado that devastated the north Alabama town to an EF5, the deadliest ranking for a twister. The agency said the twister -- which moved at a speed of at least 200 mph -- destroyed several subdivisions, the town's high school and a Wrangler Jeans plant.
It also obliterated an assisted living center adjacent to the town's emergency shelter, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store and a Dollar General store, the Red Cross said.
Emergency management officials have tallied 34 deaths in Tennessee, 34 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and one in Arkansas.
CNN's Martin Savidge, Raja Razek and Gustavo Valdes contributed to this report.CNN
This post was made using the
Auto Blogging Software from
WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
