Tornadoes ravage America's south

The past week has brought hundreds of tornadoes sweeping through the south of the United States. The death toll stands at nearly 250 and continues to grow as the hours go by. Deaths have been reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama. The latter being the hardest hit of them all, Alabama has confirmed more than 160 deaths due to the devastating storm system sweeping through the region.

The tornadoes spared no parts of the state, claiming the lives of 30 people in DeKalb County which is located in the northeast section of the state and another 18 in Franklin County situated in the northwest of the state. An unimaginable 66 tornadoes have been reported in Alabama to the National Weather Service, combined with a total of 137 reports throughout the south.

The National Guard has activated 2,000 troops to help search the devastated areas for the missing and injured. FEMA has responded and Alabama governor Robert Bentley has been engaged in communications with President Obama, who is expected to travel the state on Friday to assess the damage that has taken place.

At this time tornado watches still remain in effect for the country's south.

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport resume flights

As of Sunday afternoon flights once again began to depart from the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, taking those who have been stranded for 2 days. Concourse C which suffered the most damage was still closed. Airport officials are hoping to have service restored up to 70% by the end of the day. Airport director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge has said "It's going to take a while before the C concourse can be functional." 

Along with flights beginning to resume the MetroLink rail line also began operations again this morning. St. Louis mayor Francis Slay hopes for the airport to be 100% functional by the middle of this week.    

The Lambert-St. Louis International Airport was crippled after a fierce EF 3 tornado touched down on Friday. The airport's busiest terminal became a scene of chaos when devastating winds ripped through it damaging parts of the roof and blowing most of the windows out. The tornado is said to have gotten its initial start in the town of New Melle, from there it traveled nearly 30 miles bringing along a path of destruction that spared no mercy on the airport.

Fortunately for those who happened to be there at the time no lives were claimed, though reports says 5 people suffering from minor injuries were taken to the hospital and later released. An unknown amount of others were treated on the scene for cuts from the glass that flew. Diana Miller who was at the scene described it as such "Glass was blowing everywhere. The ceiling was falling. The glass was hitting us in the face. Hail and rain were coming in. The wind was blowing debris all over the place."