walter maddox is the mayor of tuscaloosa. he joins us on the phone. mr. mayor, welcome to "nightly business report". a month ago since your tornado, describe your community tonight. >> well, we're in recovery mode. we started debris removal. but from a physical, from a spiritual sense we started that road towards recovery, and we feel like we're beginning to turn the page. >> tom: what does tuscaloosa need as it works to rebuild a month after that disaster? >> we need to expedite the debris removal as soon as possible. we also have several hundred that are homeless, living in a shelter or living in hotels as they try to move towards a more permanent housing. >> tom: to those two ideas of cleaning up and now rebuilding, what can you tell us tonight and what can you tell your constituencys a month after the storm in kerms of federal aid and state aid that's been pledged as well as aid that's been put to work in tuscaloosa? >> well, the operation clean sweep is a joint collaboration between f.e.m.a. and the core of engineers that's been very successful. we c

>> reporter: mayor walter maddox dropped by a relief station to assure victims help is on the way, but, unfortunately, he expects more bad news and a higher death count. >> i do expect it to rise. i'm hopeful that it won't. >> reporter: more than 1,000 people have been injured in tuscaloosa, and the mayor says emergency workers expect that number to rise, too. >> they believe that number is even higher. many of those that were treated for injuries never got reported into the system. >> reporter: suzanne horsley works for the red cross. does this break your heart? >> this has been horrible, i live here. >> reporter: she and a host of volunteers are running one shelter filled with the suddenly homeless, providing medical treatment, food, and a roof. >> the first night we had almost 500. so gradually, they're finding other places to stay or people to stay with. but right now, these are people who have lost everything. >> reporter: people like dinah clancy, a grandmother who now lives here at the shelter because her home a few miles away was pulverized by the tornado. dinah beds down each