With communication spotty - the tornado took out cell towers - the question of what happened to whom has deepened people's worry. No one knows exactly what the number of missing is, as numerous people may have fled after the storm to stay with friends and relatives.
A special telephone line has logged more than 2,000 calls from people searching for the missing. Families of the dead want to know where their loved ones lie. Time is running out for the living, the rescuers know. It's expected to return with a vengeance Tuesday night. Monday night, the search was called off after lightning struck two firefighters, critically injuring one.īut Tuesday morning, there is a lucky break: The rain stops. Heavy rain, almost incessant since the tornado, has inundated the city, flooding its streets and darkening the daytime sky. Many of the searchers have been up for more than 30 hours straight. More than 70 firefighters from a dozen counties gather at the city's Public Safety and Justice Center, the command post for a citywide search, rescue and, when necessary, recovery effort that for two days has occupied more than 600 men and women, many now exhausted to near delirium.
