Robbie Thomas wipes her eyes as she recalls her experiences in the Rosedale courts housing complex, in the aftermath of deadly tornados in Tuscaloosa (Alabama), April 29, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Lee CelanoBy Verna Gates and Alister BullTUSCALOOSA (Alabama) | Fri 29 april 2011 3: 08 pm EDT
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (Reuters)-President Barack Obama promised Federal aid on Friday, the tornado-South after he got a close-up look at the "heartbreaking" impact of deadly twisters that at least 310 people were killed.
"We want to do what we can to help these communities rebuild," Obama told reporters after touring scores of broken homes and talk to survivors in Tuscaloosa, a university city in Alabama that was destroyed by the Tornado.
Alabama was the hardest hit of seven Southern States which this week were destroyed by a swarm of Tornadoes and violent storms that whole neighborhoods flattened. It was the deadliest natural disaster U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"I've never seen devastation like this. It's heartbreaking, "said Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle Obama and Governor of Alabama Robert Bentley. "This is something I don't think anyone has seen."
In Alabama alone, 210 people lost their lives and 1700 wounded, Bentley said.
"We can't bring back those who have lost. They next to God at this point ... but the damage to property, which is of course extended, that is something that we can do something, "said Obama.
The president was eager to show that federal aid on the way and he didn't light the disaster that is. His predecessor, President George w. Bush was fiercely criticized for what was seen as a slow response to Hurricane Katrina.
Fly in Tuscaloosa aboard Air Force One, Obama and his family saw a broad Brown scar of destruction several kilometers long and hundreds of meters wide.
Obama and his family flew on to Cape Canaveral in Florida, where she was due to witness the last launch of the Space shuttle Endeavour, but the launch was postponed due to a technical problem.
Tuscaloosa resident Jack Fagan, 23, was glad Obama saw the damage. "Maybe federal funds will help us, but I'm sure it will take longer than they say because it always does."
Recovery can cost billions of dollars and even with federal disaster aid efforts by the States concerned to bounce back from recession may complicate. It will be an additional burden on municipalities struggle with Finances vulnerable place.
Tornadoes are an integral part of life in the American South and Midwest, but they are rarely as devastating. Deaths also were reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana.
NUCLEAR PLANT SHUT, INDUSTRIES DAMAGED
The tornado's battered Alabama's poultry industry--the State is the producer No. 3 U.s. chicken--and other manufacturers in the State.
The coal production stopped on the cliffs natural resources mine in Alabama.
The second-largest U.S. nuclear power plant, the Browns Ferry facility in Alabama, may be fixed for weeks after his power was turned off and the installation automatically shuts down, avoiding a nuclear disaster, officials said.
Clothing manufacturer VF Corp., owner of clothing brands such as North Face and Wrangler Jeans, said one of the Jeanswear distribution centers, located in Hackleburg, Alabama, was destroyed and a worker killed.
In Tuscaloosa cut the twisters, including one a mile-wide, a path of destruction, reduction of homes to rubble, flipping cars and knocking out power and other tools.
"We bring in the cadaver dogs today," said Heather McCollum, Assistant to the Mayor of Tuscaloosa. They put the number of deaths in the city on 42 but said it could rise.
Of the more than 150 Tornado that rampaged from west to East in the South this week, the National Weather Service confirmed that the person who beat Smithville in Mississippi of Monroe County on Wednesday was a rare EF-5 tornado, with winds reaching 205 km per hour.
This is the highest rating on the Fujita scale of tornado intensity that improved measures.
"The houses here are made good ... but when you're talking about a direct hit, it doesn't matter. ... Now, which houses are slabs of concrete. There is nothing more, "said Monroe County Sheriff Andy Hood.
In the South, many were left homeless by the tornado's and stayed in shelters. Other residents provided food, water and supplies to neighbours whose homes were destroyed.
Tuscaloosa resident Antonio Donald, 50, received help. "I have no light, no water. I have a newborn baby at home, a daughter who is pregnant and an 88-year-old aunt, "he said.
The storms left up to 1 million homes without power in Alabama. Water and garbage collection services were also disrupted in some areas.
Alabama's Jefferson County, which is fighting to avoid what could be the biggest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history, damage and 19 deaths but said the storm would have little direct impact on the struggling Finances because federal subsidies were expected.
(Additional reporting by Peggy Gargis will be doing in Birmingham and Colleen Jenkins in Saint Petersburg, Leigh Coleman in Mississippi, Phil Wahba in New York; writing by Matthew Bigg and Pascal Fletcher, edit by Will Dunham)
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