MICHELE NORRIS, host:
For many of people inside Southern states it was another day of digging out, you know, putting their lives torn apart by tornadoes Tuesday night. The death toll across the region climbed to 56, and emergency workers poured in to help survivors.
NPR's Kathy Lohr reports from Sumner Country, Tennessee where local officials told her they knew just what to do.
KATHY LOHR: In Gallatin, Tennessee, people have been responding since the tornadoes blew through like Tuesday night. Hartsville Pike Church of Christ has set up a shelter and a lot more.
Ms. MITSY HOWELL (Member, Hartsville Pike Church of Christ): There are buckets. We did have some flashlights and we can always get more. We have the large contractor cleanup bags, cleaning supplies looks like bleach.
LOHR: Mitsy Howell(ph) is a church member and volunteer. At least two dozen folks prepare food and drinks and act as a collection agency for donations. Howell says it's not the first time they've been through this.
Ms. HOWELL: We did this two years ago when the tornadoes came through Gallatin and hit so hard before. And so it was really just a natural thought for us to do this again. As a matter of fact, there were some people who called some of the members that would have a key Tuesday night about 12 o'clock actually and asked, could we open up your building and let people come in and sleep.
LOHR: Seven people are confirmed dead in this county as a result of this week's storm. Among those who fled, Barbara Crossman(ph) from Harmont(ph). She saw towering flames from her home, a mile and a half from the natural gas pumping station that caught fire.
Ms. BARBARA CROSSMAN (Resident, Tennessee): They said evacuate, well, I didn't ask where. We just got out of the house, get go. Of course, the power is out but it's - right now, the most desperate thing is that people are running out of water.
LOHR: About 30 people spent the night Tuesday and a few continued to trickle in here today. There's plenty of room and plenty of supplies. Another lesson people in this county learned was how important communication is.
Mr. HANK THOMPSON (County Executive, Sumner County): Two years ago, we can't get and hold anybody a cellphone. We got a satellite right now, so as the mayor of Hendersonville. We make sure that's not going to happen again.
LOHR: Sumner County executive Hank Thompson says emergency management teams and dozes of volunteers responded within moments after tornadoes touched down.
Mr. THOMPSON: They were right on immediately, and I guess, you heard of - they found a 11-month-old boy out of the field. He must have been killed and so they were walking in the dark and close to - the trees were down. It's so hard to get to any place in the rural, so many trees and power lines across the road. So people had changed (unintelligible), getting the trees out of the road so you could get to rescue people was what - was the big mission you might say.
LOHR: Thompson says there have been other big changes in the past two years and the road was finished so emergency officials can get to remote areas more easily. They got better rescue equipment, and they got help from Homeland Security to fund some of these improvements.
Thompson says FEMA has realized outlying areas can be an important asset in a disaster and that help Sumner County respond better when its own residents were in trouble this week.
Kathy Lohr, NPR News, Hendersonville, Tennessee. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
