FEMA watched closely after deadly twisters
55 people killed across South; Bush to visit Tennessee, where 31 died

Local and state officials warned Wednesday that they would not tolerate a slow response from the federal government after the deadliest wave of tornadoes in a decade killed at least 55 people across the South, 31 of them in Tennessee alone.

President Bush planned a visit Friday to Tennessee, the hardest hit of five states where residents were trying to salvage what they could from homes reduced to piles of debris. More than 150 other people were injured, and thousands were left without power after as many as 50 twisters were reported in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama.

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., echoed the concerns of numerous government officials in the affected states when he recalled the sluggishness with which the Federal Emergency Management Agency responded to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He told FEMA Director David Paulison on Wednesday that he would “not tolerate a slow reaction time.”

“FEMA must not use bureaucratic excuses to avoid helping Arkansans,” Pryor said in a letter to Paulison.

Bush promised that the federal government would step up to the plate this time, calling the governors of all five affected states and vowing to help “in any way we can.”

“This is a bad storm that affected a lot of people in a variety of states,” Bush said at a swearing-in ceremony for his new secretary of agriculture. “Our administration is reaching out to state officials.”

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Homeland Security Department, which oversees FEMA, said he took the concerns seriously and was personally consulting with state officials to make sure they got what they needed.

May God console them this trying period in Jesus name, Amen. We are so blessed 'weatherwise' in Naija that no severe weather comes from the sahara desert or hell fire  to kill people like this;May be it's the fervent prayers of christians scattered all over Nigeria that is interceding for us.