About 20 people were lined up Tuesday morning outside the disaster-recovery center when state and federal officials opened the doors. By noon, they had taken about 40 applications, with more expected throughout the day.

“We’ll be here until we’re no longer needed,” said Brad Craine, public information officer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In addition to the standard disaster assistance, Picher will be the recipient of $8 million from the Environmental Protection Agency to expedite the government buyout that already was under way in the former mining town.

“This $8 million in federal funds will be first used to assist the victims of the May 10 tornado in the Picher area,” U.S. Sen. James Inhofe said in an announcement circulated Tuesday night by The Associated Press. The tornado struck the heart of the Superfund site with a history of lead-pollution and cave-in issues.

Sally Lane, 71, was one of those looking for help after the May 10 tornado.

“Everybody says it (a tornado) sounds like a freight train, and they’re right,” Lane said while waiting outside the Picher Community Center, 116 Devilliers Circle, where the recovery center is located. Many community and relief groups providing everything from diapers to bottled water are set up nearby.

The tornado destroyed more than 140 homes in Ottawa County, including Lane’s.

Lane, who is living with her sister three blocks away, had lived in her home since 1975.

“It’s just a bunch of rubble now,” she said. “It was very scary.”

Fred Cobbs, who also was in line Tuesday, spent four days in a hospital with injuries he suffered in the tornado.

Like Lane, he lost his house.

“There ain’t nothing there but bits and pieces,” said Cobbs, who also is staying with family.

Ten days after the storm that killed six people in Picher, signs of life were nonexistent in an area west of Picher where houses were ripped from foundations and reduced to sticks. The area is just a few blocks south of Picher-Cardin School.

A child’s orange and green Nerf football lay beside what once had been a home.

Across the street, a child’s brightly colored parka was sprawled near the road.