21.   Emergency officials then closed southbound traffic on Broadway between those streets.

22.   Emergency officials began to worry that the huge numbers of dead might threaten the living through disease and contaminated water supplies.

23.   Emergency officials blamed the freezing deluge for at least six deaths and scores of fires sparked by candles or the indoor use of barbecue grills for heat.

24.   Emergency officials said scores were injured, and witnesses described hearing a loud noise before the crash.

25.   Emergency officials said the storm began in Alabama early Friday morning, filling the southern skies with snarling thunder and lightning.

26.   Emergency officials Tuesday responded to calls around the state about suspicious powders being mailed or delivered to homes and businesses.

27.   Emergency officials, equipped with detectors, would fan across communities to plot contamination and measure risk, Akhter said.

28.   Emergency officials are telling people to stay put for now, because they fear a logjam.

29.   Emergency officials in Okaloosa County, for instance, reported thousands of power outages but relatively little structural damage and flooding.

30.   Emergency officials said some of the injured were flown by helicopters to hospitals in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach and Gainesville.