Search and Recovery Efforts Continue Following Midwest Storms

(NECN/NBC News: Jay Gray) - Search and recovery teams are still pouring through rubble across eight states after a deadly storm system spawned dozens of tornadoes and leveled communities from the Deep South through Michigan.

The storms that tore through the area killed at least six people and there is concern that number could climb as recovery teams continue to assess the full extent of the damage.

The devastation is wide spread and overwhelming.

Washington, Ill. resident Steve Bucher said, "Within less than a minute, everything started collapsing inside the house, cracking and sputtering and the next thing we know it's light inside the house."

Central Illinois took the most severe hit.

Bucher said, All of a sudden the wind really started picking up."

When it finally stopped, communities like Washington and New Minden were for the most part wiped away.

Candi Cross, Mayor of New Menden said,
"It's pretty bad in terms of people not being able to stay in their home, you know, the roofs are gone, the church steeple is gone, some damage on the inside and, yeah I would say it's pretty bad."

A path of splintered homes and communities leveled by the intense storms stretches from Kentucky through Michigan, where more than 250,000 families were left without power, though they understand.

Hundreds of families have lost a lot more.

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