Help poured in Sunday to southern US communities that had been struck by powerful tornadoes that claimed nearly 350 lives and caused massive destruction. The American Red Cross has opened 16 shelters across Alabama, taking in about 900 of the newly homeless, the organization announced.
In addition, about 1,000 National Guard troops and a mobile relief operations center were on their way here from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, authorities said. President Barack Obama late Saturday reiterated his pledge to help the region recover from the “heartbreaking” despair and devastation. “It’s going to be a long road back and so we need to keep those Americans in our thoughts and in our prayers,” Obama said at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“We also need to stand with them in the hard months and perhaps years to come,” he added. “I intend to make sure that the federal government does that.” The death toll in Alabama, the state hardest hit by the tornadoes that left in their wake the second deadliest disaster of its kind in US history, was lowered by four Saturday to 250. The dead included eight students at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the Tuscaloosa News reported.
Eight others were listed as missing in Alabama and another 1,730 people were either hospitalized or injured. Mississippi increased its confirmed deaths by one to 35 on Saturday, with the latest death reported during search and recovery efforts. The scale of the disaster is exceeded only by a tornado outbreak in March 1925 that left 747 people dead. Search and rescue teams were moving into smaller communities that didn’t get immediate attention after the storms, and they are coming upon more destruction, said Yasamie August, an Alabama emergency management spokeswoman.
“We are still finding complete subdivisions and homes completely leveled. It is very devastating to see,” she said. “Whether they have large populations or not, they are pretty much all facing the same thing.” For the living, still shocked by scenes of utter devastation in once-thriving cities like Tuscaloosa, the ordeal of rebuilding their shattered lives was just beginning. Complicating efforts, many firehouses and emergency facilities were severely damaged in the storms.
Tuscaloosa’s Salvation Army building was destroyed. “It has been extremely difficult to coordinate because so many people have been affected, some of the very same people you’d look to for assistance,” said Sister Carol Ann Gray with the local Catholic Social Services.But hundreds of volunteers swarmed into devastated city areas to help out, some preparing food or distributing water, others helping friends and neighbors cut away branches from huge, uprooted trees that crushed houses.
“Everybody is helping in some way. I’m good making BBQ, so I’m here doing my best,” said Tim Clements, a volunteer from a church group, as he grilled burgers for the homeless.
