Obama visits storm devastation as death toll rise to at least 329

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Obama visits storm devastation as death toll rise to at least 329

By on and Kim Severson

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: 11:10 p.m. Friday, April 29, 2011

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Friday, as President Barack Obama came to this partly

ruined city to witness the destruction wrought by this week's monstrous storms,

the full scope of the damage was becoming more apparent.

The death toll from Wednesday's storms rose to at least 329 across seven states,

including 238 in Alabama, making it the deadliest U.S. tornado outbreak since

March 1932, when another Alabama storm killed 332 people.

Alabama Gov. Bentley said 1,700 people were injured by Wednesday's storms

in his state — 990 in Tuscaloosa alone — and that as many as 1 million Alabama

homes and businesses remained without power.

Emergency buildings are wiped out. Authorities are begging for such basics as

flashlights. In one neighborhood, the storms left firefighters without a truck.

" I've never seen devastation like this, " said Obama, who visited Tuscaloosa

along with first lady Obama, after a ride through Alberta, a

neighborhood that was turned into a jagged wasteland. " We're going to make sure

you're not forgotten. "

But, echoing the volunteers who have come in such high numbers that they are

being turned away in some areas, Obama turned the focus toward the work ahead.

" We can't bring those who have been lost back, " he said. " But the property

damage, which is obviously extensive, that's something that we can do something

about. "

The White House announced Friday afternoon that five Cabinet members, including

the secretaries of agriculture, housing and homeland security, would be

traveling to Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday.

Humanitarian crisis

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said his city of more than 83,000 — where at least

45 people died in the storms — was in " a humanitarian crisis. "

Maddox said as many as 446 people were unaccounted for in the city, though he

added that many of those reports probably were from people who have since found

their loved ones but haven't notified authorities.

During the mayor's news conference, a man asked him for help getting into his

home, and broke down as he told his story.

" You have the right to cry, " Maddox told him. " And I can tell you the people of

Tuscaloosa are crying with you. "

By Friday, residents whose homes were blown to pieces were seeing their losses

worsen — not by nature, but by man. In Tuscaloosa and other cities, looters have

been picking through the wreckage to steal what little the victims have left.

" The first night they took my jewelry, my watch, my guns, " Shirley Long said

Friday. " They were out here again last night doing it again. "

Overwhelmed Tuscaloosa police imposed a curfew and got help from National Guard

troops to try to stop the scavenging.

Along their flattened paths, the twisters blew down police and fire stations and

other emergency buildings along with homes, businesses, churches and power

infrastructure. The number of buildings lost, damage estimates and number of

people left homeless remained unclear two days later, in part because the storm

also ravaged communications systems.

Tuscaloosa's emergency management center was destroyed, so officials used space

in one of the city's most prominent buildings — the University of Alabama's

-Denny Stadium — as a substitute before moving operations to the Alabama

Fire College. Less than two weeks ago, the stadium hosted more than 90,000 fans

for the football team's spring intrasquad Red-White Game.

A fire station was destroyed in nearby Alberta City, one of the city's worst-hit

neighborhoods. The firefighters survived, but damage to their equipment forced

them to begin rescue operations without a fire truck, city Fire Chief Alan

said.

Also wiped out was a Salvation Army building, costing Tuscaloosa much-needed

shelter space. And that's just part of the problem in providing emergency aid,

said Sister Carol Ann Gray of the local Catholic Social Services office.

" 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, " Gray

said.