Brave faces in aftermath of tornado

YAZOO CITY - Mississippi residents cracked jokes to keep from crying yesterday as they searched for salvageable items among the rubble left by severe storms that killed 12 people.

State officials were tallying the cost of the damage so they could ask for an emergency declaration from President Barack Obama, alongside federal funds to help clean up the mess.

The latest figures yesterday were grim: In Mississippi alone, nearly 700 homes were damaged, 49 people injured and 10 killed. Two others died in storms in Alabama.

The storm system began in Louisiana before cutting a path 240km long through Mississippi and continuing to Alabama. Storm surveyors were working to determine whether the damage was caused by a single tornado or multiple twisters.

- AP