Charities Work to Help Victims of Widespread Tornadoes in the South

Nonprofit organizations are providing emergency relief to victims of the deadly tornadoes that struck the Southeast this week.

The state of Alabama bore the brunt of the destruction. In hard-hit Tuscaloosa, the difference between neighborhoods in the path of the tornado and the areas around them is stark, says Becky Russell, a spokeswoman for the Salvation Army’s Alabama-Louisiana-Mississippi Division.

“There’s a part of Tuscaloosa that’s absolutely normal, looks like nothing happened,” she says. “Then you step into a swath of where the tornado came through and it looks like a war zone. Absolutely nothing is normal.”

The Salvation Army has mobile feeding units in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, with additional crews on standby in those and other states. The 10 canteens located in Alabama provided food and water to more than 6,000 people on Thursday.

Churches in Tuscaloosa that did not sustain severe damage are also stepping in to feed people displaced by the tornadoes and first responders, says Ms. Russell. “They put up grills and barbeque pits doing hamburgers and hot dogs, just serving the community,” she says. “Such a great spirit of ‘We’re here. We didn’t get hurt, but we’re going to help those who did.’”

A Long Response

The Salvation Army lost two buildings in Tuscaloosa to the storm, an administrative building and a homeless shelter. “Those buildings were in the direct path of the storm,” says Ms. Russell. “There is nothing salvageable.”

Thirty Salvation Army employees and corps members were in the administrative building when the tornado struck, but even though the building was destroyed, there were no injuries.

The American Red Cross has opened shelters in 11 states. More than 1,500 people spent the night in Red Cross shelters on Thursday night.

It’s too soon to say how long the organization’s response will last or how costly it will be, says Laura Howe, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross.

“What we do know about the situation is that it’s not the typical tornado-relief operation,” she says.

Tornado damage, while often very serious, is usually isolated in a relatively small area, says Ms. Howe. The average Red Cross tornado response lasts 14 days.

“This one is probably going to last much longer than that because of the immense geography that has been affected, the number of casualties, and the long-lasting power outages that are expected,” she says. (Reportedly, more than 300 people have died in the disaster as of Friday.)

Multiple Emergencies

While the large scope of the most recent tornado damage has drawn a significant attention in the news media, it’s important to realize that over the last month there have been a series of smaller disasters around the country, says Ms. Howe.

The Red Cross has been active in 25 states providing relief to people affected by a wide range of crises, such as wildfires in Texas, tornadoes in St. Louis and North Carolina, and flooding in the nation’s midsection.

“It has been a long spring for us already,” says Ms. Howe.

Donations have been steady, she says, but because relief efforts are ongoing, it’s difficult for the organization to judge its fund-raising progress.

Says Ms. Howe: “It’s hard to say whether or not the donations have kept up with the expenses, because we just don’t quite know the expense end yet.”