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Thirty people were killed when 41 tornadoes swept the South on April 27, 28, and 29, according to a new map by the National Weather Service.

The color-coded map shows the paths of tornadoes over three days, and the numerical death count attached to specific tornadoes where people died.

The death of University of Alabama swimmer John Servati is not in the count.

Despite headlines across the country -- such as the Washington Post's "Alabama swimmer John Cervati killed by tornado" -- the weather service, upon preliminary investigation, does not consider Servati a tornado victim.

"If you look at the location where the fatality occurred, it was nowhere near the tornado track," said John DeBlock, warning coordination meteorologist with the NWS in Birmingham.

By accounts, Servati, 21, was killed when a retaining wall in the basement of his 22nd Avenue residence collapsed on him, perhaps due to high waters.

The preliminary finding that a tornado didn't kill Servati is "based on the location of the relative track of the storm," DeBlock said.

Semantics? There was a tornado. There were heavy rains. All part of a big storm wreaking havoc.

Maybe so. But DeBlock says the weather service is looking at it through a statistical lens.

"We don't want to put blame where it wasn't," DeBlock said. "As scientists we are interested in tracking these numbers for research."

Alabama swimmer John Servati died late Monday during the severe storms that hit Tuscaloosa. (Photo courtesy of Alabama athletics)

Certainly Servati's fatality could be called a "storm-related" death, said Brian Corbett, spokesman of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. The agency has three tornado deaths in Alabama -- and that would include Servati's. It's not really an official designation or list -- it's just what is reported by the counties, he said.

The two other deaths were in Limestone County in northern Alabama, an area of the Tennessee Valley where two others died over the Alabama border in Tennessee.

DeBlock said the labeling of Servati's death is probably of little concern for the family.

"Their child perished, it's a horrible situation regardless," he said.