Students crushed in school as tornadoes strike America

Authorities were involved in a massive clear-up operation yesterday after a powerful storm system tore through a number of US states leaving at least 20 people dead. Among the victims were eight students who had huddled in a school in Alabama seeking safety from the tornado.

The US National Weather Service said that it had received reports of at least 31 tornadoes striking across a wide area of the American heartland, including Missouri, Illinois, Alabama and Georgia. There were similar reports from Florida and the Carolinas. In Georgia, one of the tornadoes struck close to a hospital, apparently killing two people and requiring the evacuation of dozens of others. A seven-year-old girl was killed in Missouri.

In Enterprise, Alabama, the city's Mayor, Kenneth Boswell, said a tornado had blown out the school's walls and destroyed part of the roof on Thursday afternoon as pupils were preparing to leave for home. Eight pupils who were huddled in one wing of the school were killed. "It was in a split second that we sat down and started to cover ourselves before the storm hit," said Kira Simpson, 17. "Glass was breaking. It was loud. It's like a bad dream. I have to keep reminding myself that it actually happened."

Another pupil, Erin Garcia, 17, said the roof collapsed on her classmates. "I was just sitting there praying the whole time. It sounded like a bunch of people trying to beat the wall down. People didn't know where to go. They were trying to lead us out of the building," she said. "I kept seeing people with blood on their faces."

Grannison Wagstaff, a teacher, told CBS news that he was with the students. "I said 'Here it comes. Hit the deck,'" he said. "I turned around and I could actually see the tornado coming toward me."

At least 50 people were treated for cuts, broken bones and other injuries, said Jeff Brannon, the head of the local hospital. Most of them were hurt at the school. Hospital workers scrambled to move patients away from the windows as sirens warned that the tornado was on its way. Mr Brannon said that windows burst as the storm struck. The series of tornadoes was part of a larger body of storms stretching from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast.

By yesterday evening, the storms were bringing a barrage of rain to the Carolinas, leaving in its wake flooding and downed power cables. They came just a month after a tornado killed 20 people in central Florida.

The White House said that President George Bush is to visit those areas worst affected by the storms today. "I go down knowing full well that I'll be seeing people whose lives were turned upside down by the tornadoes. I'll do my very best to comfort them," he said, as aides worked to draw up a specific itinerary. "I go down with a heavy heart." He added: "I ask our nation, for those who are prayerful, to give a prayer for the victims."

Mr Bush will be keen to act quickly. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mr Bush received damaging criticism over his government's slow and inefficient response to the disaster. He has since visited the region more than a dozen times.

In Sumter County, Georgia, home of former president Jimmy Carter, the main hospital was damaged and there were two fatalities and an undetermined number of injuries. Officials said they were investigating whether the injured and the dead were in the hospital when the tornado struck.

An ill wind

A tornado is a violent vortex of air in the shape of a condensation funnel that forms from the base of a storm cloud. It is maintained by winds flowing into the spinning mass.

The rotating winds can reach 300mph and when they hit the ground they can cause immense damage. A tornado has to touch the ground to be classified as a tornado.

A tornado's funnel only becomes visible when the humidity is high enough for water vapour to condense into the outer sheath of spinning air. Observers at a distance often see the funnel form as it spins down from the base of a storm cloud.