173 dead after tornadoes, media spends day on one birth certificate

UPDATE 6:30

Southern storms: 'I don't know how anyone survived'
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 28, 2011 5:59 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Nearly 1 million customers without power
Death toll nears 200 in Alabama
President Obama calls storms "heartbreaking," will travel to Alabama on Friday
More than 1,100 are people treated at hospitals
Read more about this story from CNN affiliates WBMA-TV and WIAT-TV. Is severe weather affecting you? Share stories, photos and video with iReport.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) -- Public and private assistance -- in the form of food, tarps and hugs -- began arriving Thursday in storm-battered Southern communities that lost nearly 300 people and saw once-familiar neighborhoods reduced to piles of debris.
The grim death toll continued to rise across the region, with 284 counted in six states. Nearly 1 million customers were without electricity in seven states.
The vast majority of fatalities occurred in Alabama, where at least 195 people perished, said Gov. Robert Bentley.
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I don't know how anyone survived

Update 3:05

250 die as storms carve up South
More victims are being found after a tornado outbreak that leveled entire neighborhoods and crippled towns in six Southern states. Alabama was hardest hit with 162 dead.
FULL STORY

UPDATE

Violent Storms Rip Through 6 Southern States, Kill at Least 200

Storms rip across the South, killing at least 173
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 28, 2011 8:01 a.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Alabama governor: Some University of Alabama students died
The death toll in Alabama skyrockets to 128
Birmingham's mayor says many people are missing and hundreds are injured
"My bathroom is across the street," a resident says

(CNN) -- Daylight illuminated a scene of utter devastation across many areas of the South Thursday, following storms of near-epic proportions that killed as many as 173 people in five states.

The vast majority of fatalities occurred in Alabama, where at least 128 people perished, Jennifer Ardis, a spokeswoman for Gov. Robert Bentley, told CNN Thursday. A breakdown provided by Ardis showed that violent weather claimed lives in 16 Alabama counties. The hardest hit was DeKalb County, where 30 people perished.

Before dawn Thursday, Mississippi emergency management officials also added 14 previously unreported fatalities to the count, increasing the death toll in that state to 32, officials said. At least one person died in both Arkansas and Tennessee and 11 died in Georgia.

Entire neighborhoods were leveled and hundreds of thousands of people were without power.

"This could be one of the most devastating tornado outbreaks in the nation's history by the time it's over," CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris said.
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Storms rip across the South, killing at least 173

It is silly season after all when the media has been following around Donald Trump and giving the "birth issue" coverage instead of covering a massive story like this. As Jon Stewart pointed out last night, Trump was taking credit for Obama releasing the "long form" birth certificate and felt as if he had done "something really important" by causing the release when if Trump really cared about this country, he'd take that helicopter to some of these areas hit by tornadoes and actually do something to be proud of since it is because of him no one is giving these states the attention they deserve. These are real lives but Trump turned a non-story into every cable station covering it. They even had to waste time talking about if the coverage is over or not!

Wednesday April 27, 2011

Believe It or Believe It
Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate
Barack Obama expresses his sad disappointment in Americans, and Donald Trump proudly takes credit. (07:18)