Tornado near Texas-Mexico border

EAGLE PASS, Texas — At least 10 people were killed, more than 150 were injured and hundreds of buildings were leveled when powerful tornadoes tore through twin border cities in Texas and Mexico.

Rescue and recovery efforts resumed early Wednesday in Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negras, Mexico after the tornadoes destroyed two empty elementary schools, a church, businesses and homes. Several mobile homes were missing.

The twister picked up one mobile home and slammed it into an elementary school Tuesday night, killing a family of five, Eagle Pass City Councilman Ramsey English Cantu said. Debris from the two buildings was indistinguishable early Wednesday.

Eagle Pass police Officer Ezekiel Navjas said he arrived at the wreckage of Rosita Valley Elementary School Tuesday night and was immediately handed the bloodied body of a 4- to 6-year-old girl.

"It was a whole family, and they were all together, probably like they were huddling," Navjas said. The mobile home held the girl, her parents and two other adult relatives.

Bricks from caved-in walls were scattered around the campus, broken water pipes were spewing water and the metal roof was violently twisted.

"You go by and you see the school areas and you can see where some of the kids' backpacks and stuff are literally outside, and it just hurts to see your community in such a way," Cantu said.

The tornado ripped up an area of about 4 square miles and officials asked the state to declare the region a disaster area, Maverick County Judge Jose Arandas said.

Gov. Rick Perry was scheduled to arrive in the devastated area at about 3 p.m. to survey the damage.

Across the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, three people were killed, 87 injured and 300 homes were damaged. About 1,000 people sought refuge in shelters. Three years ago, a tornado killed 32 in Piedras Negras.

"It's the worst I've seen," said Eagle Pass resident Ricardo Tijerina, who rode out the storm with his six children in a house near the school. Tijerina, 38, said he watched as the storm destroyed a mobile home across the street.

"It was pretty scary; I saw the trailer when it blew apart," said Tijerina, who said all the mobile home residents survived.

One of those killed died in a house, but few details were available, Cantu said. Another victim who was taken to a San Antonio hospital died Wednesday, according to Maverick County Judge Jose Aranda.

"Numerous homes in that area and businesses, small businesses, what we consider the mom and pop stores that have been in this community for years, a lot of them have been destroyed," Cantu said.

About 150 rescue workers, including Border Patrol and National Guardsmen deployed to help with border security, were searching the Eagle Pass area for survivors. Workers marked the homes with spray-painted "X's" to show they'd been searched. The symbols were similar to those used to mark thousands of New Orleans homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Navjas said he and other rescuers worked as long as they could Tuesday night. He finally went home for a couple hours of sleep after his flashlight went out at about 4 a.m.

"I really didn't want to leave," he said.

Officials said 76 people were taken to Fort Duncan Medical Center, Eagle Pass' only hospital. Four were admitted, four were transferred to hospitals in San Antonio and Del Rio in critical condition, 32 were treated and discharged, the rest were still being evaluated, he said.

"The hospital in the early stages was being overrun, but they had called in additional doctors and were able to take care of business," Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said.

School was canceled Wednesday in Eagle Pass, a border city of about 26,000 about 150 miles southwest of San Antonio.

In North Texas, streets flooded and roofs peeled off homes Tuesday afternoon, followed by another line of severe storms about six hours later. Tornado sirens rang in several counties, and drivers and residents were rescued from flooded cars and suburban neighborhoods.

In Denton County, heavy winds blew the metal roof off a restaurant and damaged several mobile homes and a commercial building under construction, said Roland Asebedo, assistant chief for Denton County's Emergency Services. No injuries were reported.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines had about 200 flights canceled because of weather in Dallas, spokesman Billy Sanez said. The airline also diverted about 80 flights bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to other airports, including San Antonio.

Ken Capps, vice president of public affairs at DFW airport, said the airport's flight control tower was temporarily evacuated Tuesday night but the airport remained open. Weather canceled 160 of about 950 departing flights Tuesday, and cots were provided for stranded passengers, airport officials said.

Wildfire forces evacuations in Georgia

WAYCROSS, Ga. — Dozens of residents evacuated their homes for several hours early Wednesday after a wildfire jumped a road and spread toward two small communities.

"It looked like it was snowing with all the ash falling. You could feel the heat," said Darryl Cribbs, 44, who packed up his family in Braganza after sheriff's deputies came to their door around 1 a.m. "They said as soon as we left they were going to bring in tanker trucks and try to save the house."

The wildfire spread rapidly Tuesday night and early Wednesday near the Okefenokee Swamp Park, fueled by dense and dry trees and brush.

A 35-mile stretch of U.S. 1 was briefly closed to traffic but reopened when the danger passed, said Tracy Smith, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Over the past nine days, wildfires have burned about 67 square miles of forest parched by drought in southeast Georgia and destroyed 18 homes.

More than 1,000 Ware County residents have been forced to evacuate, and 5,000 others have been urged to leave because of health risks associated with the smoke.

A top concern Wednesday morning was a blaze that crossed state Route 177 and was threatening Braganza and Astoria, Smith said. Waycross, a city of about 15,300 resident three miles to the north, was not in immediate danger, though thick smoke blanketed the city, she said.

Firefighters tried to slow the wildfire by igniting underbrush ahead of it.

At a Red Cross shelter in Waycross, Curtis Cowart said his family had been warned twice last week that they might have to evacuate. They had already unpacked valuables they planned to take with them by the time they were told to flee on Wednesday.

"I wasn't going to leave, but I looked and saw the flames and the smoke, and it looked like it was getting closer" said Cowart, 61, whose property near Astoria backs onto the swamp. "If it comes through those woods, I don't know if they can stop it."

About a dozen area residents gathered Tuesday and nervously watched the orange glow from the fire behind the trees.

"I wasn't scared last week, but this is scary," said Kelli Lee, 33, who said she has kept valuables packed for the past week in case she has to evacuate. "I know I won't sleep tonight, that's for sure."

The fire started April 16 when a downed power line ignited tinder-dry trees in Ware County. Officials said Tuesday the blaze was 50% contained by fire breaks plowed along its perimeter.

But winds have kept shifting direction over the past week, threatening to cause pockets of smoldering embers to flare back to life.