Nightly News   |  May 04, 2011

A week after tornadoes, kids head back to school

Life is slowly returning to normal after the severe weather that socked Alabama. NBC’s Thanh Truong reports from Tuscaloosa.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> and remember, it was a week ago tonight that the massive storm system brought record tornado outbreaks to the south? good evening.

>> reporter: brian, the death toll across seven states now stands at 328. 236 in alabama alone. search and recovery teams are just getting into the remote, hard-hit areas today. they're digging through huge debris piles looking for the missing. the governor here estimates that damages could get as high as $5 billion. more than 800 people are living in shelters and thousands more are living with family or friends. despite all that, they're trying to get back to normal. most schools have reopened, and we visited one today. a lot of the kids say they're happy to be back and happier to see their friends are safe and alive.

>> in tuscaloosa, thanks for that