Twisters kill at least 8

Tornadoes killed at least seven people in Alabama on Thursday, including five at a high school where students were trapped under a collapsed roof, state officials said.

The burst of tornadoes was part of a larger line of thunderstorm and snowstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. Authorities blamed a tornado for the death of a 7-year-old girl in Missouri, and twisters also were reported in Kansas.

Martha Rodriguez, a 15-year-old sophomore at Enterprise High School, said she had left the school about five minutes before the storm hit at about 1:15 p.m. When she returned, a hall at the school had collapsed, she said.

"The stadium was destroyed, and there were cars tipped over in the parking lot and trees were ripped out. There were trees and wood everywhere. It was just horrible," she said.

As night fell, crews dug through piles of rubble beneath portable lights at Enterprise High School, looking for other victims."The number could very well increase as the search effort continues through the night," Alabama state emergency management spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson said.

More than 50 people were brought in to an Enterprise hospital as a violent storm front crossed the state.

The high school, about 75 miles south of Montgomery, "appears to have been right in the path," said Paul Duval, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla., which monitors southeast Alabama.

The Missouri twister struck just after dawn Thursday, traveling about 15 miles across rural Howell County in the Ozarks.

"It bounced. As you get out on the county roads, you can see a definite path and then a liftoff and then where it came down again," said Howell County Sheriff Robbie Crites.

One place the twister came down was a mobile home in the woods about 12 miles northeast of Caulfield.

Elizabeth Croney, 7, was killed. Her mother, Tamera; father, Jay; and brothers, Austin, 8, and Anthony, 10, were injured and taken to hospitals in West Plains and Springfield, Crites said.

Only foundation cinderblocks marked the spot where the trailer stood. A large silvery piece of siding hung from a tree about 50 feet away, but the only other pieces of the mobile home still visible were shreds of insulation.

"I don't believe they had any warning. The way I heard it, Jay was just getting dressed for work," said Kermit Collins, 42, a cousin of Jay's who was helping other relatives look for family possessions in the wreckage.

President Bush, who visited New Orleans on Thursday, was briefed on the tornadoes by senior staff and called Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, White House spokeswoman Dana Perrino said aboard Air Force One.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with officials in both states, she said.