As
we have all seen in the news, states throughout Southern and Midwestern United
States have been affected by deadly tornadoes over the last few days. State
emergency management officials in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky
and Tennessee have reported tornadoes in several areas. The massive outbreak began on March 2nd and extended into the next day, affecting about 17 million
people from Indiana to Georgia. Thirty-nine were killed: twenty in Kentucky, fourteen
in Indiana, three in Ohio and one each in Alabama and Georgia.
The center of West Liberty, Kentucky, was transformed
into a ghost town after a tornado struck at 6:45 Friday night and continued overnight
on March 2nd. The
tornado ripped through buildings and flipped police cars along Main Street.
"There ain't nothing left of this town. It's
just a tragedy," resident David Wilson said.
Kentucky’s
governor declared it looked like a bomb that hit downtown West Liberty. The tornado left a trail, 120 mph winds
took down buildings, crashed cars, and torn off trees. Five people died in West
Liberty, Kentucky. The police said the tornado left a disaster scene so
dangerous they had to close off access to downtown.
One
of the hardest hit towns is Henryville, Indiana where a baby girl is reported
in critical condition after being found alone in a field near her home. Hospital officials said her entire
family, mother, father, brother and sister were all killed in the storm. Most
residents lost everything they owned in the storm. “We have worked all our
lives to have what we have, and it is all gone in 15 seconds”.
President Barack Obama offered
his condolences and federal assistance if needed to the governors of Indiana,
Kentucky and Ohio.
Why
so many tornadoes?
According
to a few weather consultants and meteorologists, large amounts of warm air are responsible
for the formation of tornadoes and then a powerful jet-stream splitting, one
part of the jet-stream is going to the north, another one is going to the
south, and in between that split, there is an incredible amount of air raising
in the atmosphere and that can lead to some very large storms.
How
should the U.S. government respond to the severe weather and what can be done
after this week’s tornadoes?
The
administration, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is
closely monitoring the storms and their impacts. FEMA has teams on the ground
in hard hit areas like in Henryville, Indiana and is prepared to deploy
additional teams and resources, if needed by the states. Teams have to
identify the damages and to help the governor of each state and the leaders of
each county to determine if additional federal support will be required.
FEMA
maintains commodities,
including millions of liters of water, millions of meals and hundreds of thousands
of blankets located at distribution centers. FEMA is also able to bring in thousands of mobile homes
(trailers) where those without housing can stay while the towns rebuild. The U.S. government in partnership with
state and local officials will pay for the clean-up and rebuilding efforts.
An Incident
Management Assistance Team and eleven community relations teams have also
been deployed to Indiana to assist with situational awareness following the
storms and to support the state as requested.
A national Incident Support Base
has been established in Kentucky to stage commodities in strategic locations
close to the impacted areas, if needed and requested by the state. More than
98,000 meals and 146,000 liters of water are sent to the Incident Support Base.
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