The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • A9

9AFriday, april 29, 2011 THE TELEGRAPH macon.com GRANT TELEGRAPH Roy Butts looks through what is left of a family home on Grove Street in Barnesville on Thursday after the tornado that struck the area destroyed it and many others. GRANT TELEGRAPH Truby Colbert hands his wife, Cheri, something salvaged from the rubble of their home on Grove Street, just west of downtown Barnesville, on Thursday morning. remember too much other than being tackled to the floor in the back and him saying, just lost the Cheri Colbert said of the tornado that hit the area just after midnight. Killer twisters likely among largest, strongest ever recorded Some of the killer tornadoes that ripped across the South may have been among the largest and most powerful ever recorded, experts suggested, leaving a death toll that is approaching that of a tragic of storms in 1974. a pretty good chance some of these were a mile wide, on the ground for tens of miles and had wind speeds over 200 said Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

It may have been a single long-ranging twister that battered Tuscaloosa, and then covered the 60 miles to Birmingham, Brooks said. Only 1 percent of twisters reach the most powerful readings, but Brooks thinks several of storms fall into that category. Tornado outbreaks happen just about every year somewhere in the country. But this time conditions were just about perfect for the series of powerful storms, explained Jerry Brotzge, a senior research scientist at the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms at the University of Oklahoma. The extraordinary swarm of tornadoes battering the country this month seems bent on proving Mississippi State University professor Grady point Tornado Alley is a lot bigger than people thought.

While traditionally seen as a north- south swath of the nation from the Dakotas to Texas with a second twister center Dixie Alley extending across the South from Arkansas to Georgia, Dixon argues they are really one big tornado risk area. Associated Press Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms laboratory in Norman, said 50 to 60 reports from the Mississippi-alabama line, through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham and into Georgia and southwestern Tennessee might end up being a single tornado. if true, its path would be one of the longest on record for a twister, rivaling a 1925 tornado that raged for 219 miles. Georgia woman, daughters survive storm in tanning bed TRENTON A Georgia salon owner is thankful she and her daughters are still alive after the three of them rode out a deadly storm by taking shelter in an unlikely place a tanning bed. Lisa Rice says she noticed dark skies and flying debris in down- town Trenton late Wednesday be- fore she and her daughters, ages 19 and 21, jumped into the tan- ning bed and closed it to shield themselves.

Rice says they felt air rushing overhead and heard the roof peel off. About 30 seconds later, it was over. Rice says the business just opened three weeks ago and she have insurance. Still, simply glad she survived. And Rice is relieved her daugh- ters are also safe.

Their names no kidding are Stormy and Sky. Barnesville storm survivor says God touched her BARNESVILLE Victoria Mattox says she was asleep in her house in Barnesville when a friend sent her a text message telling her the sirens were going off in town and she should take cover. She made it to her closet just in time. Seconds later, she could feel the walls shaking as the strong wind battered her house early Thurs- day morning. She said the ceiling peeled off above her head.

She said the closet where she had hunkered down was the only part of the house left standing, a large tree uprooted and arched over it. As the 29-year-old teacher and cheerleading coach sorted through the wreckage Thursday, she believe she survived. She said God reached down and touched her, and said not done with life yet. More than 52,000 without power in Georgia ATLANTA More than 52,000 Georgia homes and businesses remain without electricity nearly a day after violent storms be- gan rolling across the state. Georgia Power said Thurs- day afternoon it still has 37,000 customers without electricity, including 1,300 in metro Atlanta.

The utility said it could take three days to restore power to the hardest-hit areas. Another electric provider, the Georgia Electric Member- ship says it has more than 15,300 customers still waiting for the lights to come back. Gov. Nathan Deal tours storm-damaged counties ATLANTA Gov. Nathan Deal says he has spoken to Presi- dent Barack Obama and has been assured that federal aid will flow to tornado-ravaged counties in Georgia.

The Republican governor spoke to reporters Thursday at a state command post in Atlanta after touring some of the hardest- hit parts of the state. Deal also said the state re- sponse had gone and that tornado sirens and other warning devices appeared to function to warn residents of the impending danger. Deal has declared a state of emergency in 16 Georgia coun- ties. Obama: Damage in Southeast WASHINGTON President Barack Obama says the dam- age in tornado-stricken states in the Southeast is ing short of Speaking at the White House, Obama says the loss of life has been heartbreaking, especially in Alabama, the state hit hardest. Obama says the federal govern- ment will do everything it can to help the states recover and rebuild.

He said the first responders who have been helping those in the region are heroes. Obama will travel to Alabama on Friday to view the damage and meet families devastated by the storms. Associated Press DuSTy TuSCALooSA NEwS This aerial photo shows the devastation of The Rosedale Court housing community in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Entire swaths of the university town were completely devastated. President Barack Obama expressed condolences by phone to Gov.

Robert Bentley and approved his request for emergency federal assistance. mICKEy ADvERTISER A boy sits and cries among the debris where a woman and her daughter were killed at the Myers Country Acres mobile home park near Eclectic, Ala. JEff PRESS Megan Cleary, 18, walks through her house Thursday following a tornado in Glade Spring, Va. Several homes and truck stops along Interstate 81 were severely damaged. BuTCH PRESS A den looks untouched in a completely demolished home after a tornado hit Pleasant Grove, just west of downtown Birmingham, Ala.

President Barack Obama said he would visit Alabama on Friday to view damage and meet with the governor and families devastated by the storms. DuSTy TuSCALooSA NEwS A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Ala. BARNESviLLE: juST LOST THE EcLEcTic, BOy cRiES iN DESTROyED MOBiLE HOME PARK TuScALOOSA, wHOLE SEcTiONS Of TOwN fLATTENED GLADE SPRiNG, wHERE ROOf wAS, NOw ONLy SKy PLEASANT GROvE, DEN uNScATHED AMiD RuBBLE TuScALOOSA, fuNNEL cLOuD.