South's storm toll up to 54

Arkansas wreckage stretches 120 miles

By Carolyne Park

Clinton tornado damage

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Emergency crews fanned out across five states Wednesday searching for survivors from Tuesday's tornadoes that killed at least 54 people in four states and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.

Thirteen deaths were reported in Arkansas, 30 in Tennessee, seven in Kentucky and four in Alabama. Governors declared states of emergency in Arkansas and Kentucky, and President Bush offered support from the White House.

Tennessee's storm cut a northeasterly path through the state, hitting southwestern and north-central areas but skipping over Nashville and surrounding areas, said Bobby Boyd, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville.

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"By some miracle we think it lifted into the air and skipped over Davidson County and over Nashville," Boyd said. "From a meteorologist's perspective, I would love to know how that happened."

For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.