Bush Views Tornado-Torn Alabama Town

Betty Thomas' house was without power, battered by a tornado that killed eight students at a nearby high school.

But Thomas said she was more concerned about caring for her five grandchildren and neighbors — who she was barbecuing food for in her front yard Friday — than about how much the government will chip in to help fix her place up.

"I haven't even had a chance to think about that," said Thomas, 54. "I'm just glad to be here."

President Bush was expected to visit Enterprise on Saturday, a day after Gov. Bob Riley toured the town's heavily damaged school and ravaged neighborhoods.

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials fanned Friday out to assess the damage, which Police Chief T.D. Jones said covered a swath about four miles long and hundreds of yards wide. Riley promised the state would help rebuild Enterprise High School, where a tornado struck Thursday, killing eight students.

"I told the superintendent that 'We're going to rebuild your school,'" Riley said.

The students were among 20 people killed in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri by tornadoes contained in a line of thunderstorms that stretched from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast. The storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, toppled trees and knocked down power lines. In Enterprise, a town of 22,000 people, more than 50 people were hurt.

As residents began the arduous task of cutting and hauling away downed trees on Friday, some questioned why students were still at the high school nearly three hours after the first tornado warnings were issued Thursday.

Warning sirens began blaring about 10:30 a.m. that day, prompting school officials to order the high school's 1,200 students into interior halls.

The eight students died in what was supposed to be the school's safe place, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. Officials insist they did the right thing – the only thing they could.

Many students left school after the initial warnings, and administrators decided to dismiss classes at 1 p.m., before the worst of the weather was forecast to hit, said Bob Phares, an assistant school superintendent.

But with hundreds of students still huddled inside the school, emergency management officials warned that a tornado may hit the area and advised school officials to hold students until 1:30 p.m., Phares said.

"The storm hit about 1:15," he said. A wall in one hall collapsed, and the concrete slab roof fell on the victims.

Residents of the neighborhood around the school said they heard warning sirens long before the tornado slammed into the building, crushing the victims in an avalanche of concrete and metal.

"It came real fast, but they had plenty of time to get those kids out because sirens were going off all morning," said Pearl Green, whose 15-year-old niece attends the school and was hit in the head by a flying brick.

But school officials said they had no chance to evacuate earlier because of the approaching severe weather. And others said the carnage would have been greater had students been outside or on the road when the storm hit.

The governor defended administrators' actions after a tour of the school.

"I don't know of anything they didn't do," Riley said after stepping out of the collapsed hallway where the students died. "If I had been there, I hope I would have done as well as they did."

The last of the bodies were removed Friday. The dead students included five boys and three girls, all 16 or 17 years old.

"Each one who was brought out, somebody would say, `That was a good kid,'" said Phares.