WEST LIBERTY, KY - Six months after a tornado tore through West Liberty in the Appalachian foothills, empty lots dot the downtown and still-crumbled buildings sport yellow caution tape.

But there are welcome signs of optimism amid the devastation in the eastern Kentucky town.

Homes are being repaired or rebuilt. Government offices have reopened. Businesses and churches posted signs vowing comebacks.

A tornado packing winds up to 140 mph pounded the town, part of a pre-spring outbreak of tornadoes that hit a number of Kentucky counties and caused extensive damage on March 2.