Killer Weather

I have many friends Stateside and so when I turned on the TV half an hour ago to this 20 minutes ago to this news it stunned and terrified me. I knew of one friend who was completely snowed in and most of that area had been declared a 'state of emergency'.

But tragically the weather has taken even more of a turn in the US states of Alabama, Missouri and Georgia where At least 11 people have been killed after a series of tornadoes hit overnight.
President Bush has offered federal help to the affected areas.

Five people died when a school building was torn open by the twister in the southern Alabama town of Enterprise. The state's Emergency Management Agency said earlier that 17 people had died in Enterprise. But it later lowered the state death toll to seven, blaming initial miscommunication among officials.

At least three people died during storms in Georgia - two in Americus, when the Sumter Regional Hospital was hit by an apparent tornado.

Another tornado killed a girl in a mobile home in the Missouri town of Caulfield, officials said.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley, who sent 100 National Guard troops to Enterprise, said rescue workers has been moving debris to search for survivors at the school.

Television news footage showed helicopters landing near the wreckage.
The shredded building was surrounded by broken trees and overturned cars.
Emergency officials told local television that at least one teacher was among those killed at the school.

CNN quoted an eyewitness as saying he carried the bodies of two young girls out of the building.
Thursday's storms came just a month after a tornado killed about 20 people in central Florida.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all Americans who are having to face this devastating force of nature. Weather plays terrible tricks on us and there is absolutely nothing we can do.