JACKSON (AP) — Volunteers are providing meals, cold drinks and emotional support to people left homeless by severe storms that ransacked Mississippi and other parts of the South, even as workers continue sorting through rubble with the grim task of seeking bodies.

In the hard-hit northeastern Mississippi town of Smithville, a woman’s body was found Saturday morning beneath rubble and trees across the street from where her home once stood, said Monroe County Coroner Alan Gurley.

The discovery of the body increased Mississippi’s death toll to 35.

Monroe County alone has now confirmed 15 deaths, with 14 in Smithville.

The National Weather Service classified the Wednesday afternoon twister that hit Smithville as an EF-5, the strongest rating for tornado damage. Mayor Gregg Kennedy said one person remained missing Saturday in the town of 900, which was mostly flattened.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said at least 162 people were injured in several counties across Mississippi. That’s down one from a previous MEMA count.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for the state Friday night, and Gov. Haley Barbour said the declaration should speed up the availability of money and other resources for recovery.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other Cabinet members are scheduled to travel to Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday to see areas hit by the outbreak of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that killed more than 340 people in seven states.

The Salvation Army, the American Red Cross, churches and individual volunteers are helping with relief efforts in Mississippi.

“It was just laid on my heart to come up here and help,” 33-year-old Mindy Williams said by phone Saturday from Smithville.

Williams lives 15 miles to the north in Mooreville. She said and her 10-year-old daughter, Lindsey Mitchell, have been helping the Salvation Army hand out meals and bottles of water at a temporary station outside a Smithville pharmacy that was gutted by the tornado.

Susan Gilbert of Tupelo, who’s running the Salvation Army site in Smithville, said volunteers have provided baby formula, diapers, ice, drinks and meals. The assistance goes to storm victims and recovery workers.

“I say we’re sort of like my mama. We’ll feed anyone who comes by,” Gilbert said Saturday.

She said people who are on all-terrain vehicles have been loading up with food, ice and drinks to take to those who are still sorting through debris to find their lost belongings.

MEMA said Saturday that its latest survey showed 2,527 homes in Mississippi damaged. Of those, 993 were destroyed or had major damage. The agency said 104 businesses were damaged. Of those, 62 were destroyed or had major damage.

MEMA director Mike Womack and other officials on Saturday flew over storm-struck areas to do aerial assessments.