The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 3

TBO.com THE TAMPA TRIBUNE SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2007 NATIONWORLD 3 i SJs2 sir if 17,000 were damaged or destroyed by the storm, but hospital officials said all were in service. "They came because they know we respond to their emergencies," said Judy Legg, secretary for the town's police chief, as she frantically tried to coordinate out-of-town volunteers offering to assist with the cleanup. At daybreak Friday, about nine hours after the suspected tornado hit Americus and left most of the town in darkness, residents started coming out of their shelters to sift through the damage. Two people in town died, and dozens of homes and businesses were wiped out. Many wandered by the hospital and muttered to themselves in disbelief.

Powell, the off-duty physician, returned as well. By then, he could see the cars in the parking lot stacked up like dominoes and the trees that bored holes right through sturdy brick walls. There was reason for relief. Every patient had been evacuated within hours of the storm. None died.

He stifled a chuckle as he explained the night's ordeal to a friend. "It was a helluva night to be on call." The tornado was part of a eries of twisters contained in a line of thunderstorms that killed 20 people Thursday in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. The storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, toppled trees and knocked down power lines. Nine deaths were attributed to the storms in Georgia. In addition to the deaths in Americus, one person was killed in nearby Taylor County, and six people died when a mobile home was demolished in the Baker County town of Newton, about an hour's drive south of Americus.

Former President Carter's hometown of Plains, about 10 miles from Americus, was not damaged. Information from Cox News Service was used in this report. IT WAS HAMMERED TREES, TRUCKS By GREG BLUESTEIN The Associated Press AMERICUS, Ga. The main -road to Sumter Regional Hospital was littered Thursday with downed power lines and trees upended by a violent tornado, but the building itself may have been even more dangerous. The storm assaulted the three-story brick structure with a barrage of flying-trees and an occasiorial truck hurtled from a nearby lot.

Windows were smashed open, clouding the once-spotless patient rooms with a toxic mix of glass, dirt and debris. Pipes burst, flooding four of six operating rooms with 2 inches of murky water. In minutes, this town's medical sanctuary turned into a worst-case scenario. Its 100 or so patients needed to be evacuated quickly. Luckily, no one inside was seriously injured.

A woman who was visiting her sick father had a broken pinky finger that had to be amputated. Some nurses had cuts and bruises. The doctors and nurses knew the building no longer was safe. They asked hospitals within a 70-mile radius, including Macon, Columbus and Albany, to take any new patients those injured by the storms and then furiously figured out which patients needed to get out first. They carried ill patients, either in wheelchairs or atop mattresses, down a couple flights of stairs and kept them in windowless rooms away from the brunt of the damage.

Off-duty hospital staff showed up, responding to the storm like a homing signal. Chris McWilliams, a nurse anesthetist, was on call for the night and napping in a hospital trailer across the street when a century-old pecan tree crushed part of it. He rushed over to the hospital to help. Tim Powell, an anesthesiologist, walked and hitched a Photos from The Associated Press Garland Brasawell helps recover medical records from the remains or a doctors office at Sumter Regional Hospital on Friday in Americus, one day after it was slammed by a tornado. The storm's ferocity stunned witnesses, but staff rallied to evacuate all patients.

1 1 1 i 1 WiuH-VA Antoine Perry, right, hands belongings to relatives Friday in Newton, Ga. The storms killed 20 in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. Little was left of Linda McClendon's beauty shop in Americus, where two people died in Thursday's violent weather. assist Americus' small four-ambulance fleet in delivering the patients to other hospitals in southwest Georgia. There had been reports that all of the ambulances in this town of ride for the three-mile trip from his home.

When he got to the hospital, "everyone had that look in their eyes," he said. As they worked, a steady stream of volunteers from nearby homes joined the effort, helping to calm nerves and translate instructions to Spanish-speaking patients. "It was surreal," said Rick Oster, an internal medicine specialist working the shift. "They came to work as if this was their own house." Outside, dozens of ambulances pulled up most unsolicited from nearby towns to Mut AH Kid, b-i OF YOUR NEW MATTRESS SET Randy Kincaid Auction Company (813) 784-3926 www.klncaid.com AB551AU905 0002040416-01 Shop Compare! No coupons No gimmicks Ridiculously inflated Prices 1 fciJ SAFE, UNIQUE CLEANING PROCESS WHPLEHOySE cm SPECIAL! Ulll UU51 Soot Pollen Mildew Mold Spores IW Mitac We Are Your Low Price Leader! IpToSVantt. 1 Animal nanrlfir MuSty OuOrS wtnanyocnft9n.fcJqi yat)7 9 WORLD CLASS EUROTOP 1 I -I A-l leieoraung our 18th ueen 2-pc Set Anniversary 1 clp FIRM MATCH SETS oueen l' 1 cat 4 i i Twin Set TWIN SET Full FULL SET iUiJ Set KING "2J2 PLUSH Posturepdic PLUSH r'y l- i Queen 't Queen set set fyyfs TWIN tJtzJfijJ FULL FUU- KING wtf BY DAY i DELIA'S Pocketed Coil springs a Beautyrest original conform DELECTABLES to the unique shape of your body BREAKFAST SANDWICHES 1 for an undisturbed night's sleep.

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