Countless Alabamians are still trying to recover from the surge of devastating tornadoes and severe storms that ripped through the Southeast April 27.
In all, more than 350 people in six states were killed. Alabama was hardest hit with 249 confirmed dead and eight still missing at press time. The death toll from nearby states was 34 in Mississippi, 34 in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and 14 in Arkansas.
Alabama’s worst affected areas include Tuscaloos, Hackleburg, Phil Campbell, Pleasant Grove, Pratt City, DeKalb County, northern Calhoun County and South Cherokee County where a massive number of homes and businesses were completely demolished and much of the area is unrecognizable.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates there were 211 tornadoes from April 27 to 28 making the storms “the third deadliest tornado outbreak on record.”
“There’s just incredible devastation, particularly in those areas,” said Jeff Stefkovich, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Birmingham.
The State of Alabama Emergency Management Agency called the storms “one of the worst natural disasters in state history.”
“The assessment is ongoing,” a spokesperson for the Birmingham National Weather Service office told The Alabama Baptist April 29. He estimated 15 to 20 tornadoes in the Birmingham warning area alone. “The damage is quite extensive. We are just scraping the surface. … At this time, we have not identified firmly or confirmed any F4s or F5s (level tornadoes). Neither have they been ruled out. That is forthcoming. It’s going to be a long process.”
The National Weather Service Forecast office in Birmingham offered the following report of the weather day it called “tragically historic.”
“There were two waves of severe weather. The first moved through during the early morning hours across northern portions of Central Alabama producing damaging straight line winds and isolated tornadoes. The second wave involved numerous supercell thunderstorms and produced long lived … strong to violent tornadoes across the northern two-thirds of Central Alabama … with widespread and catastrophic damage in several locations.”
While reporting on the storms, many meteorologists said they believed Alabama has not experienced this kind of weather for more than 30 or 40 years.
In the wake of this tragedy, several cities including Tuscaloosa, Cullman and some Tennessee Valley towns reportedly enforced curfews to protect residents and their property.
On April 28, Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper said his police force had to make several arrests due to looting. Looting was also reportedly occurring in Tuscaloosa and in North Alabama.
Both Gov. Robert Bentley and President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Alabama freeing state and federal resources needed to assess damaged areas and assist affected communities with recovery and rebuilding efforts.
Both leaders assured Alabamians they would do everything possible to help the hurting cities. President Obama declared Alabama a major disaster area April 29 making federal disaster aid available in state and local recovery efforts.
The funding is available to Cullman, DeKalb, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Marshall, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties. According to FEMA, the assistance includes “grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.”
Obama said, “We’ve already provided the disaster designations that are required to make sure that the maximum federal help comes here as quickly as possible. … I want to just make a commitment to the communities here that we are going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild. … I want to assure him (Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox) that the American people all across the country are with him and his community, and we’re going to make sure that you’re not forgotten and that we do everything we can to make sure that we rebuild.”
Bentley said times like these cause people to forget their petty differences of race, religion and politics.
“The people of Alabama are resilient and they care about each other,” Bentley said. “We are going to get through this and come out together on the other side.”
To ensure this happens, Bentley approved up to 5,000 National Guardsmen to provide emergency assistance to impacted areas, a member of his communication staff said. During his April 28 news conference in Tuscaloosa, he said would send as many as the state needed to recover.
At press time, the areas requesting National Guard assistance included Marshall, Tuscaloosa, Limestone, Cullman, Jefferson, Marion, Franklin and Lawrence counties.
Likewise, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency Mutual Aid Branch announced that it deployed 35 of its 50 teams in DeKalb, Tuscaloosa, Calhoun, Franklin, Marion, Fayette and Madison counties for rescue, urban search and rescue, mortuary and law enforcement services.
“The teams belong to local governments and have agreed to assist outside their home area during time of crisis,” the release stated.
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