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The twisters left behind scenes that might have been conceived by a macabre surrealist. In some farming areas the dead bodies of cows were found hanging from trees, and in McColl, S.C., an aluminum fishing boat was wrapped around a tree trunk like foil paper. Near by, all that remained of what had been a section of old frame houses was a field of splintered wood, with undamaged household articles sticking out incongruously. Two rescue workers diverted themselves from the grim task of searching through the debris for bodies by staging an impromptu open-air musicale. One weary young man sat down at an undamaged piano and picked out a tune; a second snatched a toy trumpet from the wreckage of a nearby house and tooted an accompaniment.
President Reagan promptly pledged federal disaster relief for the stricken areas, and neighbors of the homeless provided food, clothing and shelter. Unhappily, though, the darker side of human as well as physical nature was on display. Cleanup efforts on Thursday were hindered by traffic jams that backed up two to three miles on either side of the North Carolina-South Carolina border. The cars were packed with families out for some ghoulish sightseeing. —By George J. Church. Reported by Richard Hornik/Boston and JohnE. Yang/Atlanta, with other bureaus