LAFAYETTE, Tenn. - Daybreak revealed a battered landscape across the South on Wednesday, as crews searching communities hit by a violent line of tornadoes fought through downed power lines, crumpled mobile homes and snapped trees to find victims. At least 48 people were dead.
The storms swept across Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas as Super Tuesday primaries were ending, ripping the roof from a shopping mall, blowing apart warehouses and crumpling a campus' dormitory buildings as students huddled inside.
Seavia Dixon, whose Atkins, Ark. was shattered, stood Wednesday morning in her yard, holding muddy baby pictures of her son, who is now a 20-year-old soldier in Iraq. Only a concrete slab was left from the home.
The family's brand new white pickup truck was upside-down, about 150 yards from where it was parked before the storm. Another pickup truck the family owned sat crumpled about 50 feet from the slab.
"You know, it's just material things," Dixon said, her voice breaking. "We can replace them. We were just lucky to survive."
On, February 5, 2008, the Hickory Ridge Mall ( Wolfchase Mall) was hit. The Sears store, main entrance, and parking garage were destroyed. Several people were injured. There has been no release of information concerning how many were injured or killed at this time. Debris from the mall, in the form of insulating foam, was scattered all over the Bartlett area, following the storm path, to at least the Wolfchase area.
Currently, mall management has stated it will stay closed "indefinitely" as they clean up.
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