Survivors of Tornado in Mayflower, Arkansas, Recount Ordeal

A survivor of Sunday's deadly tornado outbreak in the Plains and South told of the struggle to hold a cellar door shut as the storm roared overhead. Becky Naylor, 57, of Mayflower, Arkansas, said her family heard reports of tornado debris falling nearby before rushing to their storm cellar where they were "packed like sardines." Three years after a tornado devastated the Little Rock suburb of Vilonia, its residents again huddled in storm cellars as the most powerful twister this year carved an 80-mile path of destruction through suburbs north of the state capital, killing at least 16 people.Emergency officials began to pick through the rubble to look for survivors as the sun rose Monday morning. The tornado that touched down around 7 p.m. Sunday about 10 miles west of Little Rock grew to be half a mile wide and remained on the ground for much of that route, authorities said. It was among a rash of tornadoes and heavy storms that rumbled across the center and south of the country overnight. Tornadoes tore through several states Sunday evening as severe weather slammed into parts of the central United States. Authorities confirmed at least nine fatalities: eight in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma. Damage is "widespread" after a tornado hit Mayflower, Arkansas, and there are numerous reports of injuries, said Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the state's governor.I can't even get down the main street down to the middle of town," Vilonia Mayor James Firestone said. "I am trying to make my way through the downed trees and power lines. What I am seeing, it is a lot of damage. I've been listening to the rescue folks. They're saying people have to be extracted from vehicles. ... It looks pretty bad. From what I understand, there has been a subdivision that's been leveled." In Mayflower, overturned, smashed cars were visible along the freeway as search and rescue teams combed the area.Naylor told The Associated Press that there were more than 20 people in the cellar as several passing residents also dived in for shelter. "Everyone is welcome to come into it," she told the AP. "In fact, people were pulling off the highways and were just running in." She said the men of the group held shut the cellar doors while the tornado did its best to pull them open.