PRATT CITY, Ala. – Whether it’s refilling blood-pressure medicine or patrolling neighborhoods in a grocery-filled pickup truck, tornado victims in splintered Southern towns say volunteers are ensuring they’re well-fed and warm at night. At least a few, though, say they need more from the government: Help getting into their homes and cleaning up endless debris.

Across the twister-ravaged South, students and church groups tended to those who needed it most, clearing away wreckage and handing out food and water.

Additional Photos

Volunteers fan out through the communities razed by last week’s tornado, delivering food and water to victims and volunteers Friday. Daniel Bryant passes out water to Artura Camacho, Miguel Camacho, Hector Martinez and Jesus Amaro, helping at Dwight Henderson’s Magnolia Terrace, Ala., home. The Associated Press

Wednesday’s tornadoes marked the second-deadliest day of twisters in U.S. history, leaving 341 dead in seven states — including 249 in Alabama. Thousands were hurt, and hundreds of homes and businesses have vanished into rubble.

Federal Emergency Management Agency workers handed out information to people in shelters about how to apply for help. National Guard soldiers stood watch, searched for survivors and helped sift through debris. Churches transformed into buzzing community hubs.

‘THEY FOUND ME’

In Tuscaloosa, a Red Cross shelter was handing out clothes and providing counseling for people like Carol Peck, 55, and her 77-year-old mother. She said the shelter’s first aid station even refilled her blood pressure pills without her having to ask.

She can’t explain how it happened, but she suspects her clinic contacted the shelter.

“Evidently, because I sure didn’t call,” she said. “They knew I was here. I don’t know how, but they found me.”

In Ringgold, Ga., Poplar Springs Baptist Church had been transformed into an informal help center. Crews were dispatched from the church, some with chain saws to chop through the debris, others with bottled water and food. Inside the gymnasium, a barbecue buffet was feeding those without power.

“You’ve got elderly people out there who can’t get out there and do it,” said volunteer Kathleen Hensley, 40, of Ringgold. “They need a hand.”

The University of Alabama’s athletic department was pitching in around hard-hit Tuscaloosa, with more than 50 athletic training students giving Gatorade, bottled water and protein bars to residents.

“Anything they have to give athletes, they’re giving away,” said volunteer Jenny Sanders.

POSSESSIONS CAN BE REPLACED …

And most were grateful to get whatever they could.

Niki Eberhart, in Tuscaloosa’s Alberta City neighborhood, said Saturday that her husband and two children are getting everything they need at the shelter.

And it isn’t the first time they’ve counted on the Red Cross. 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 also had already gotten help from FEMA workers at the shelter. And while they await a response from the feds, she dismissed relatives’ offers of sympathy.

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

… BUT LIVES CANNOT

As some tried to clear the rubble and sort through belongings, others took on the task of burying the dozens who died. Several funerals were being held in Rainsville in northeastern Alabama, including services for 70-year-old Hubert Whooten, his 70-year-old wife, Juanita, and her mother, Lethel Izell, 86.

“They were just normal, hard-working country folk,” family friend Kevin Black said outside the Rainsville Funeral Home. “If they seen you, they’re gonna call you by your name and (ask), ‘How’re you doing?”‘

But planning funerals was a struggle for many as they dealt with destroyed homes.

“A few of the families I met, with, they’ve lost everything,” said Jason Wyatt, manager of Tuscaloosa Memorial Chapel. “It’s hard for me to hold my composure. They don’t have clothing or anything.”

Related Stories