SUFFOLK, Va., April 29 (UPI) -- Storm cleanup began Tuesday in southeastern Virginia following a National Weather Service determination that the area had been hit by a total of six tornadoes.

Meteorologists doubled the tornado count in Monday's storms, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported. All touched down between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Bryan Jackson, an NWS meteorologist, said that a twister in the Carrsville area of Isle of Wight County gutted 11 homes and some farm buildings, while one in Claremont, Surry County, destroyed a double-wide trailer home. No injuries were reported from those tornadoes or another along the Matthews-Gloucester County line.

No deaths were reported from any of the tornadoes. While many people were injured, most suffered cuts and bruises.

In Suffolk, building inspectors condemned 140 to 150 houses, The Virginian-Pilot, a Norfolk, Va., newspaper, reported. Emergency workers were searching damaged and destroyed houses, looking for anyone who might be trapped.

Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to assist the areas hit hardest.

There was a weird sound that I never heard before, Diane MacKenzie of Suffolk told The Washington Post. That scared me.

The storm began with hail, followed by rain so heavy you couldn't see through it, she said. An instant later, she said she saw debris everywhere.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush said Tuesday he is open to the idea of a gas tax moratorium.

Under questioning by reporters at a Rose Garden news conference, Bush stopped short of endorsing such action and refused to explain his thinking on the issue.

I'm open to any ideas. We'll analyze anything that will come our way, Bush said, adding the White House is concerned about high gasoline prices, high food prices, people staying in their homes and student loans and he called on Congress to show leadership on the issues.

If it's a good idea, we'll embrace it, Bush said.

Bush said he still doesn't think it would be a good idea to stop buying oil for the strategic reserve since the purchases account for only 0.1 percent of global demand.

I don't think that's going to affect price, he said.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush said Tuesday it doesn't matter whether you call the current economic situation a recession.

These are tough times, Bush told a Rose Garden news conference. Words on how to define the economy do not reflect the anxiety average people feel. … Economists can argue over terminology. These are difficult times.

Bush called on Congress to send a signal to the world the United States is serious about becoming less reliant on foreign oil by expanding exploration at home and continuing with alternative fuels research.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Tuesday said the economy is in its current state because U.S. President George Bush ignored repeated warnings.

In the Democratic response to Bush's Rose Garden news conference, Schumer said Bush "has closed his eyes and put his hands over his ears as these crises have grown.

Now all of a sudden he's realizing the problems, Schumer said, later adding, He has lost control of what is going on in the American economy and lost the faith of the American people.

Schumer also said Bush is plain wrong about how to address the situation. In particular, he said, opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration will do nothing to alleviate high gasoline prices, noting it will take 10 years before new oil could be produced and then it would reduce the price of gas by only a penny a gallon.

Schumer said the president cannot be both a friend to Big Oil and back lower prices.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Tuesday that his former pastor made a caricature of himself in a speech in Washington.

Obama, campaigning in North Carolina, told reporters that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's suggestion that attacks on him are attacks on the black church are not accurate descriptions of the black church's point of view, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

Wright's remarks at the National Press Club have damaged their relationship, Obama said.

The person I saw yesterday was not the person I met 20 years ago, Obama said.

Obama has been a longtime member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Wright recently retired as pastor. Wright married Obama and his wife, Michelle, and baptized their daughters.

A few weeks ago, video clips snipped from Wright's sermons began circulating on the Internet. The clips, taken out of context, included statements like God damn America.