Amid clear blue skies Saturday, a plume of gray smoke rose from a pile of burning debris as rural residents in Arkansas cleaned up what was left of their homes after tornadoes scoured the state.
Shelia Massey raked through her family's property. Only a chimney, a bathroom wall, and a bathtub that had served as a makeshift storm shelter remained.
"God's hand was down and held us there while the rest of the house just blew away," Massey, 54, said. "That's all there was to it. The lord held us there."
http://focus.arkans…">http://showtime.ark…">May storm photos
A child poking through the rubble found a photograph of Massey's husband, who was not at home when the storms hit Friday. In all, seven people were killed, about 400 homes damaged or destroyed, and electric power and telephone services were knocked out to thousands of customers.
In the 18 counties that reported damage, the recovery task was underway Saturday.
Down U.S. 65 from Massey's house, parishioners at Southside Baptist Church were salvaging what was left of their old sanctuary and their new church, just recently completed.
Men backed up pickups to the front door of the old church and loaded up boxes filled with red-leather hymnals. A darkened hallway led to the new sanctuary, where the storms had collapsed the roof, bending its steel beams like sipping straws.
The gray cornerstone of the old church offered a simple Bible verse: "Occupy till I come."
Officials tried to offer comfort. U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., and a staff member shook hands with volunteers cleaning the church. And Gov. Mike Beebe planned to tour the storm damage later in the afternoon. National Weather Service teams dispatched in the early morning to resume their tornado count, and state emergency management personnel helped county officials with the damage assessments.
Like others in rural Van Buren County, Massey got first word of the storm from a friend, who lived miles south in the larger town of Perryville. The friend called to warn Massey of the approaching tornado after watching television news reports.
Massey, her daughter, and Massey's three little grandsons, ages 2-weeks, 2, and 4, ran to the bathroom. The boys and their mother slumped down in the tub covered by sofa cushions, while Massey held on to the outside. Massey said she felt the house shake and the bathtub begin to move as the storm hit. A wall fell on them, but instead of causing injury it became a protective barrier from other blows.
The family's helplessness in face of catastrophic weather has been a recurring event in the state of Arkansas this year. At least 26 people have died so far from violent storms including the latest bout - with most of the deaths occurring in rural communities and among tracts of farm land far from the nearest warning siren.
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Six of those who died Friday resided among the rolling hills and piney woods of central Arkansas. A teenage girl died in the city of Siloam Springs in northwest Arkansas, but it wasn't immediately clear whether the storm that hit there was a tornado.
A series of storms Feb. 5, some with winds greater than 166 mph killed 13 - nearly all in rural areas. There were no fatalities - and no injuries - when a tornado hit the Little Rock metropolitan area April 3.
In addition to the violent weather that included a tornado fatality in January, Arkansas has also seen a foot of snow, a foot of rain, flash flooding and widespread river flooding this year. At least five people died in the floods, according to state emergency management spokesman Renee Preslar.
"We could use a little bit of a break," said weather service forecaster Chuck Rickard said.