COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Darrell Jennings walked out his front door and heard screaming.

A tornado had just torn through his quiet Tennessee neighborhood, and the house next door, along with numerous others, had been leveled to its foundations.

Except for a few broken windows, however, the Jennings' house was still standing. It quickly became a shelter for those who were suddenly left with nothing. The next-door neighbors, who had miraculously survived, straggled over. Others joined them.

"It's like we were a beacon," Amy Jennings said an interview Wednes...