The blog will be on hiatus after this post due to the devastation in my home town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Please consider donations -- see links below. This F-5 tornado ripped through the heart of the City. Confirmed dead - 39. More than 1000 injured. Over 6000 lived in the line where this massive tornado touched down, and almost 14,000 in the path of destruction. More than 5000 structures were damaged, and that includes the annihilation of entire neighborhoods and apartment complexes. To add insult, the destroyed structures included the City's Emergency Management Agency, and several headquarters of prominent agencies that provide aid to the poor and displaced were damaged. The tornado destroyed housing for the disadvantaged, taking everything from those who had so little. Our state lost more than 250 lives and other states were hit hard, too. But in the chaos it's been easy to see humanity rising above calamity as volunteers have swarmed the area. My fellow City employees have worked around the clock: in our incident command, in the field, or in many cases just wherever needed. I've been lucky to get home each night to catch some sleep but many haven't seen the soft side of a pillow since it began Wednesday. The President and Governor have visited, for which we are thankful, but neither can match the leadership Mayor Walter Maddox has shown. He's now beginning to mandate employees get some rest because this will be a long haul, but has trouble following his own directive. We feel your prayers and love and it sustains us as we endure.
Chamber of commerce Donation Relief Fund
City of Tuscaloosa's Official Website
Tuscaloosa News
