AP Photo
As President Obama visits the ravaged state of Alabama, where 213 have been reported dead in a storm system that killed more than 300 people across six states, search parties are still looking for survivors amidst rubble. Thousands have been reported injured and even more are homeless, looking beneath splintered remnants of their homes for their belongings and toting them in garbage bags. While Alabama was hit the hardest, the Associated Press has reported 33 people dead in Tennessee, 32 in Mississippi, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and one in Kentucky. Obama has declared a state of emergency in Alabama and promised federal aid to the state, including some 2,000 National Guard troops. More than 1,680 people spent Wednesday in Red Cross shelters across nine states, according to a spokeswoman with the organization, which has not seen such large numbers of injured and homeless since Hurricane Katrina. In April alone, 297 confirmed tornadoes have been reported by the National Weather Service, breaking a 36-year-old record.