Tornado Toll: 34 Dead So Far

A string of violent storms scratched away small towns in Indiana and cut off rural communities in Kentucky as a tornado outbreak killed at least 34 people yesterday. The death toll rose as daylight broke on the search for survivors.

• A total of 14 people were reported killed in Indiana, including four in Chelsea, where a man, woman and their 4-year-old great-grandchild died in one house. The child and mother were reportedly huddled in a basement when the storm hit and sucked the 4-year-old out her hands. The mother survived, but her 70-year-old grandparents were upstairs; both died.
• Sixteen people were reported dead in Kentucky, where National Guard troops, State Police troopers, and rescue workers were still searching counties east and south of Lexington..
• Tornadoes were reported in at least six Ohio cities and towns, including the village of Moscow, where a council member found dead in her home was one of at least three people killed in the state.
• One person was reported dead in Alabama after an apparent tornado hit Jackson Gap. Two others were injured.
• By 10pm, the National Weather Service had issued 269 tornado warnings. Only 189 warnings were issued in all of February.
• Yesterday's outbreak came two days after an earlier round of storms killed 13 people in the Midwest and South.