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  Yahoo News 4 Feb 07
Toll hits 20 in Florida's deadliest storm in nearly 10 years

LADY LAKE, United States (AFP) - The toll from Florida's deadliest storm in almost a decade rose to 20, reports said, as homeowners returned to pick through the rubble of hundreds of tornado-shredded homes.

US President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency in four counties in the central part of the southern state in the wake of pre-dawn storms Friday that carved a trail of destruction and death, wrapping metal around trees and launching some victims into neighboring homes.

"Whatever federal response is needed, we will make it quick and sure," Bush said during a speech in Williamsburg, Virginia.

CNN television network reported that 20 people had died, one more than the officially reported toll of 19 on Friday, as rescue crews ended their search for victims. The storm also wiped out a flock of 18 rare whooping cranes, all juveniles which had only a month earlier been guided to western Florida on their migration from Canada by an ultralight aircraft.

"My heart is aching both for the young birds we lost and for the dedicated people who have devoted so much of themselves to this project, only to see the lives of these cranes end in this devastating manner," said John Christian, co-chair of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, in a statement.

"It's amazing to see how destructive and how surgical -- the intensity of a tornado," said Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who also declared an emergency in the four counties.

The emergency declarations release disaster assistance funds to help stricken people with temporary housing, rebuilding and other costs. They also help local governments fund their rescue and recovery efforts.

Crist said Florida residents had pulled together. "They have poured out their hearts to help their fellow man," he told reporters. "Our search and rescue are completed and we are now in the recovery stage, making sure we're getting needs met," Jennifer Stan, of Florida emergency operations, told AFP.

Some 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed and an estimated 13,000 people were left without electricity after the line of storms tore through, uprooting trees and felling power lines.

The storms hit around 3:30 am (0830 GMT) Friday, as most people slept. Because few had any warning, many residents were stunned the toll was not higher. An area of some 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) was ravaged.

Residents likened the storms to a freight train that roared and slammed into their homes. "It woke me out of a dead sleep," local resident David Wholly told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. "I heard the noise, and it sounded like a train coming, and I ran to the bathroom. The tree went right through the bedroom window where my head was."

Residents sifted through the remains of their splintered homes Saturday, desperate to find any souvenir, a family memento or a picture frame.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, so criticized for its performance when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, made sure that Bush signed an emergency measure for the four Florida counties, releasing needed funds, said FEMA director David Paulison.

He said FEMA trailers were on their way with food, water and other supplies, but stressed that FEMA cannot work alone.

"It's neighbors helping neighbors," he said. "If we work together, we can do this."

Friday's storms struck on the ninth anniversary of Florida's ferocious "Groundhog Day Storm" of 1998, when seven tornadoes and fierce storms killed 42 people in Florida. In December, more than a dozen people were injured and more than 200 homes destroyed when storms and tornadoes ripped through the same area of central Florida.

The area of devastation is northwest of the Walt Disney World Resort, which was not affected by the bad weather.
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