Volunteers give food, shelter to storm survivors

PRATT CITY, Ala. — Church groups, students and other volunteers worked aggressively Saturday to bring food, water and other necessities to communities ravaged by the second-deadliest day of tornadoes in U.S. history.

Volunteer Rachel Shugart searches the rubble for valuables in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday. Hundreds of people were killed when tornadoes swept across six states on Wednesday.

Across the South, volunteers have been pitching in as the death toll from Wednesday's storms keeps rising. At least 340 people were killed across seven states, including at least 249 in Alabama, as the storm system spawned tornadoes through several states. It was the largest death toll since March 18, 1925, when 747 people were killed in storms that raged through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

Tornado survivor Jonathan Ford saves what he can from his home Friday after it was destroyed by a powerful tornado in Pleasant Grove, Ala. Ford stayed under the staircase to save his dog.

In Pratt City, a working-class suburb of Birmingham, police vehicles and military jeeps filled the roads surrounded by leveled and gutted homes on Saturday. Officers barked orders to residents wandering through to clear the roads.

Thomas Brown said volunteers had stepped up to bring supplies — a day earlier, a pickup truck patrolled neighborhoods with volunteers jumping out of the back to hand out water and groceries. Dozens more turned an elementary school into a community hub, where people dedicated one room to storing bread and another to sorting donated clothing. A doctor set up shop inside, and a grill was set up outside. Students formed an assembly line to unload fresh supplies.

Volunteer Rachel Shugart searches the rubble for valuables in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday. Hundreds of people were killed when tornadoes swept across six states on Wednesday.

However, he said people needed more heavy equipment like trucks to start hauling out debris. He also said he was upset police had put up roadblocks.

"They let the governor ride on through but you can't get to your house," he said. "Why are they still blocking the streets?"

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has officials on the ground in five states, including Alabama. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has called the disaster a "humanitarian crisis" for his city of more than 83,000 — but he credited volunteers with keeping the situation there from spiraling out of control.

The Red Cross had set up a two shelters in Tuscaloosa, one of which housed 240 people and fed another 600 Friday night. Even people who still have homes don't have electricity, and no way of cooking, said Red Cross spokeswoman Daphne Hart.

People who had been exhausted "lit up" when University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban came by to serve dinner Friday, and others said they were just grateful for the help.

Niki Eberhart, whose home in the Alberta City neighborhood of Tuscaloosa was shredded by the tornado, said Saturday that her husband and two children are getting everything they need at the shelter. This isn't the first time they've counted on the Red Cross for help. When their home in Meridian, Miss., burned down last year in an electrical fire, Eberhart said the Red Cross responded within an hour.

"We feel like we've been blessed," she said. "Both times it could have been much worse. We lost things. Material possessions can be replaced."

Eberhart and her husband, Shane, also had already gotten help from FEMA workers at the shelter who handed out paperwork explaining the process for applying for federal help. And while they wait for a response from FEMA, Eberhart dismissed the offers of sympathy she had gotten from relatives.

"I told them we're having great luck because it could have been so much worse," she said. "If you don't have any bad times, how are you going to appreciate the good times?"