Chertoff tours tornado damage in rural Missouri

SENECA, Mo. -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Tuesday toured tornado-ravaged areas in southwest Missouri, offering condolences and reassurances of federal help.

After seeing the damage from a helicopter, Chertoff visited the flattened farmstead that was once home to Betty Geary. The 73-year-old Missouri woman pointed out where different barns and outbuildings had once stood, and to the concrete back steps that are the only part of her house that was still standing.

Her son's home down the road also was destroyed.

Still, she told Chertoff and FEMA administrator David Paulison that she was thankful everybody in her family was away from the home when the tornado hit.

"You have the right attitude," Chertoff told her.

"It is hard to take help," Geary replied. "We have been givers."

Chertoff shook her hand, telling her: "Stay strong."

It was that same attitude Chertoff later told reporters that he found while touring tornado damage in Oklahoma.

"I was with the president this morning. He wanted me to convey his condolences and the fact he is very focused on this," Chertoff said. "We look forward to working with the governor and state to get as much assistance as we can to respond to local needs for help."

Assessment teams are working to come up with a damage assessment to formally apply for federal assistance. But officials said it was not yet certain whether that level of aid will include direct individual assistance.

"We don't have insurance, so anything they can do would be helpful," Geary said.

The death toll stands 16 in Missouri, all but two of those in Newton County, said Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Dan Bracker.

At least 100 people were injured in Saturday's tornado, including 19 who were transported by ambulance, said Gary Roark, emergency management director for Newton County.

"No one else is in a life-threatening condition," Roark said, adding the death toll was not expected to rise.

But officials were nervously watching a weather system that threatened to bring some of the same conditions that spawned Saturday's tornado. Seneca schools were letting students out early so they could get home.

"We are hoping it doesn't get bad," Roark said. "I think everybody is pretty edgy right now."

Even Chertoff in a brief, windy news conference mentioned the oncoming storm and warned everybody to "stay safe."

Newton County has been hit by a series of natural disasters. The expected disaster declaration would be the sixth time in the last 28 months the county has received such a designation.

The latest count by the Red Cross puts the damage from the tornado at 146 homes destroyed, 76 homes with mayor damage, 117 with minor damage and 125 others affected by the tornado. No one stayed at the shelters that had been opened, opting instead to stay with family and friends, said Almitra Smith, spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

"Truly it is heartbreaking to see the damage again," said Gov. Matt Blunt.

Blunt said a damage assessment is being done to get a disaster declaration as quickly as possible, adding the state expects a quick response from the federal government.