SENECA, Mo. (AP) - Search crews combed debris-strewn fields for
possible tornado victims Sunday as residents picked through the
remains of homes demolished by storms that smashed through the
Plains and South, killing at least 21 people in three states.
At least 14 people died in the sparsely populated countryside of
southwestern Missouri, and searchers feared more bodies would be
found. At least six people were killed in the fading mining town of
Picher, Okla., and at least one person died in storms in Georgia.
Susan Roberts, 61, stared at the smashed remains of her classic
1985 Cadillac sitting on her living room floor - the only thing
left of her Seneca home. A woman who had apparently sought shelter
in the car died there, she said.
"That is what is tearing me up," Roberts said. She had warned
the woman - who stopped to change a tire as Roberts and her
13-year-old grandson drove away from the rental house - to escape.
The tornado hit just minutes later.
"I'm from Kansas. I grew up watching storms," she said as she
walked through the debris. "If I didn't have my grandson with me,
I probably wouldn't have left."
The same storm system earlier hit Oklahoma, where at least six
people died and 150 people were injured in Picher. Officials there
wavered on the number of dead, with the state highway patrol saying
six and the state emergency management department saying seven.
The town, once a bustling mining center of 20,000 that dwindled
to about 800 people as families fled lead pollution there, was a
surreal scene of overturned cars, smashed homes and mattresses, and
twisted metal high stuck in the canopy of trees.
"I swear I could see cars floating," said Herman Hernandez,
68. "And there was a roar, louder and louder."
Ed Keheley was headed to town to help out Saturday night when he
heard a woman screaming. He looked over to see her hand reaching
out of debris.
"She was sitting in the bathtub, she had curlers in her hair
and she wanted out of there," said Keheley, who along with several
others pulled her out.
The area is part of a Superfund site, and residents have been
asked to take part in state and federal buyouts in recent years.
"From what I've been able to determine, that wouldn't have any
bearing on whether a disaster declaration would come forth," said
Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Earl Armstrong.
As the system moved east on Sunday, storms in Georgia killed at
least one person in Dublin, about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta,
authorities said. Weather officials had not yet confirmed whether
the storms produced any tornadoes there.
The body was found in the rubble of a mobile home, said Bryan
Rogers, the Laurens County administrator.
A second person found in the home, who state and local
authorities initially reported had died, was hospitalized in
critical condition, said Lisa Janak of the Georgia Emergency
Management Agency.
The small town of Kite was destroyed by the storm, said Caroline
Pope, a spokeswoman for the Johnson County Sheriff's Department.
Close to 1,000 people live in the community, she said.
"From what they're telling me, it's gone," she said from the
dispatch center in the jail, which was operating on a generator
because the power was out.
President Bush has talked with governors to express his
condolences for the lives lost and to discuss the state's needs for
recovery, according to the White House.
"The federal government will be moving hard to help," Bush
said.
In Missouri, the tornado hit the rural area about eight miles
north of Seneca and continued east, said Keith Stammer, director of
emergency management in Jasper County.
Next door to Roberts, Jane Lant climbed over splintered wood to
go through the mud-caked remains of her bridal shop.
"I just feel so awful, going through this rubble when they are
out looking for bodies," she said as she motioned to the search
dogs wandering the field behind her. An unidentified body lay under
a blue tarp nearby.
Among the dead were five family members of her neighbor who had
been going to a wedding when the tornado caught their vehicle in
front of her store, she said.
Next door, her husband's feed store also lay in shambles. But
one bright moment came Sunday when rescuers heard chirping from the
mound and found a half-dozen chicks. They had rescued about 100 the
night before.
Susie Stonner, spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management
Agency, said it was unclear how many homes had been damaged. But
she said officials in Newton County, which includes Seneca, had
initial estimates of 50 homes damaged or destroyed there.
Nineteen people were hospitalized in Newton County, said Keith
Stammer, acting spokesman the county emergency operations. He did
not know the extent of their injuries.
In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado caused "substantial
structural damage" in Stuttgart, but no one was seriously injured,
said Weather Service meteorologist Joe Goudsward.
Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and another
seven were killed in an outbreak May 2. In between was freezing
weather, persistent rain and river flooding that damaged homes and
has slowed farmers in their planting.
Gov. Mike Beebe planned to tour storm damage in Stuttgart on
Monday.
"In this seemingly endless season of severe weather, another
Arkansas community now faces the challenge of rebuilding, and
others are again picking up after damaging storms," Beebe said in
a statement Sunday. "It appears everyone in Arkansas survived this
latest outbreak, and for that we are grateful. Our thoughts and
prayers go out to our sister states that saw a much steeper toll of
human life from Saturday's tornadoes."
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Associated Press writers Murray Evans in Picher, Roxana Hegeman
in Seneca, Mo., Dorie Turner in Atlanta, and Chuck Bartels in
Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)