"I lost a grandma, but not this one," said Miller, 23, while a male relative climbed a short ladder into what used to be the second floor of the home, in search of the family Bible.

Miller's grandmother, who took shelter in the cellar with a neighbor as the house collapsed on top of them, survived.

But her other grandmother, who had been out for dinner Sunday evening to celebrate the high school graduation of a family friend, did not.

"It's not easy," she told AFP. "I don't think the worst has come yet. This is all adrenaline and coping. I'm sure in a couple of weeks when it hits..."

Miller looked out across what used to be a lovely park at crushed cars, splintered trees, and random scraps of metal, toys and blankets, then down again at the neatly-folded clothes and wicker furniture she'd salvaged.

"Oh gosh," she said as the man handed her a small angel statue.

"The most incredible things came through."

Rescue crews were taking advantage of the first sunshine since the deadly tornado struck Sunday evening to do a thorough search for survivors along the six-mile long, three-quarter mile wide path of destruction.

They are hopeful that people may still be alive under the rubble, even though most reports of cries for help have not panned out.

Some 17 people were pulled out alive Monday. A further 116 were found dead, and that number is expected to rise. Officials have not yet been able to compile a reliable list of the missing and wounded.

"We're trying to get everything salvaged before the next storm hits," said Brandon Hicks, 26, as he picked his way through what was left of his house down the road.

Hicks had been fishing in the country when the storm hit. He rushed back when his brother -- who lives across the street -- called and said he was trapped in the basement with his kids.

The devastation he saw along the way was shocking: block upon block of homes and businesses were flattened.

By the time he got home, a neighbor had managed to free his brother, he said.

Meanwhile, cardiologist Ron Smalling rode out the storm on the seventh floor of St. John's hospital, which took a direct hit from the massive twister.

"I saw the clouds swirling and then heavy objects began to fall out of the sky, like rooftops, so I knew we were in trouble," he said as stood across the road from the ravaged building.

Hospital staff had just minutes to get patients out of their rooms and away from the windows before the tornado struck.

The wind sounded like a freight train as it rolled through and the entire building shook as windows were sucked out and chunks roof and fa�ade were blown away.

"We huddled together and just prayed because we didn't know if we were going to live," he said.

"It was like a bomb went off inside of the hospital."

Aaron McClintock, 23, was working in the emergency room registration office when the tornado struck. He came back Tuesday to take a picture of his car for an insurance claim.

"I had to crawl under and look to make sure it was mine," he said of the tangled wreck that used to be a 2000 Pontiac Firebird and now lay upside down in the park across the road from the hospital.

"My house got hit as well," he told AFP. "We were able to salvage things like clothes, but the house was ruined."

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