The scars on the Earth will heal, but the scars on our hearts are forever...
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of one of the largest tornado outbreaks in US history.
We were extremely lucky here in Columbus, MS! Tornadoes ripped through every one of our neighboring counties that day.
A total of 358 confirmed tornadoes responsible for 322 deaths occured over the 4 day period.
Below are some of the surveyed paths around my area (sorry they are not all here,but it would take up too much space)
Jackson NWS coverage area
Birmingham NWS coverage area
Memphis NWS coverage area
NOTE: All above links go to the individual site pages where images were borrowed from, and include all of the tornado survey reports for their respective coverage areas.
This outbreak was without a doubt extremely heartbreaking, but it definitely was an eye opener for me personally. After regaining communications with friends that were directly affected by these tornadoes two days after the storms, I soon realized how bad their individual situations were. Their areas have not received any assistance from anyone, with the primary focus of the news coverage and aid on Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Our local community volunteer groups had mostly headed to Tuscaloosa and north to Smithville. I didn't quite know how to get aid to the more rural areas destroyed by these violent storms...
PORTLIGHT ON THE MOVE
After following their work after Hurricane Ike and the earthquake in Haiti, I contacted Portlight for assistance. I already had the truck loaded up to make a run to deliver need supplies to the folks of rural Cullman County, AL (were my friends live).
After my first delivery I was able to get a better handle on the situation and relay the info back to the folks at Portlight. They in turn routed supplies they had to the area I was in, which made the living conditions in the small rural community around Hanceville a lot more tolerable!
Over the course of the next few weeks I continued, with the support of other volunteers and Portlight, to move supplies into Hanceville and other hard hit areas. The locations we supplied were without potable water and electricity for 2 weeks following the storms.
Here are some images from our routes traveled and our relief effort...
Tuscaloosa 1 year later... The scar will be visible for years, but will eventually heal...
FROM MYSELF AND THE PEOPLE OF THE ARAB AND HANCEVILLE COMMUNITIES, THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR US PORTLIGHT AND ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS WHO GAVE UP THEIR DAILY LIVES TO ASSIST THEIR NEIGHBORS!!
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