More Than 20 Killed as Storms Race Across U.S.

Video

Tornado Victims Face Recovery

Hundreds of people will be digging through what's left of their homes after severe storms spawned tornados in the south and plains over the weekend. At least 22 people are dead in three states.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

Yesterday President Bush, who was in Crawford, Tex., for the wedding of his daughter Jenna, pledged aid for those affected by the storms.

"Mother's Day is a sad day for those who lost their lives in Oklahoma and Missouri and Georgia because of the tornadoes, [who] are wondering whether or not tomorrow will be a bright and hopeful day," he said. "The federal government will be moving hard to help. I'll be in touch with the governors to offer all the federal assistance we can."

The worst storms began about 5 p.m. Saturday, near where northeast Oklahoma meets Kansas and Missouri. A mass of moist air quickly fueled the storms, and winds in the upper atmosphere caused clouds to rotate. Meteorologists said the storm, moving at up to 50 mph, created several tornadoes, including one that might have had winds of nearly 200 mph.

In Picher, Okla., Scott Van Hoose said yesterday that he saw the storm coming over a hill-size pile of gravel, one of several left over from lead mining. He said he saw the storm coming for him and tried to escape on his Harley-Davidson.

But the storm was gaining on him. In desperation, Van Hoose spotted a ditch.

"I drove my Harley down into it at about 15 miles an hour," he said, then curled up in waist-deep water. Van Hoose said he saw the tornado pass overhead, carrying rocks and gravel and dropping baseball-size hail. "Just a big old bunch of swirls, just like a dark swirly gas . . . and it just whistled."

"The whole time, I'll just tell you, I was praying hard," Van Hoose said, speaking on the phone from a Red Cross shelter in neighboring Miami, Okla. His family survived. But they returned to find their house torn apart and their two camping trailers missing.

Jeff Ray, the fire chief in Peoria, Okla., arrived 15 minutes after the tornado passed through another area nearby.

"Devastation. We had to clear trees just to even get to damaged houses," he said yesterday. In that area, he said, the houses were "just gone. There's nothing left of them."

Reports of the storm's damage were being updated yesterday. Oklahoma authorities said about 20 square blocks had been devastated in Picher, with about 150 people injured. In Missouri, the state emergency management agency said several dozen homes had been damaged, and at least 8,000 people were without power at one point.

In Arkansas, which was also hit by the storm, officials reported no deaths, but at least 15 businesses and at least 25 homes were destroyed.

Yesterday, the same storm system raced across Georgia, killing one person in Laurens County, southeast of Atlanta. But officials there said they were relieved that the storm had passed.

"We were blessed," Donald Peebles, the fire chief in Kite, Ga., said by phone. He told of street signs being blown around, like in hurricanes he had seen on TV, and that his crews had seen numerous power lines down. But things could have been worse, he said. "Just put that part in about how we were blessed."

Staff writers Elissa Silverman and Martin Weil contributed to this report.