President Obama will travel to tornado-torn Alabama on Friday to observe first hand the damage and offer support to the many whose lives have been disrupted owing to the continuous band of damaging weather.
Aid has begun to pour in after Wednesday’s deadly tornadoes destroyed neighborhoods through the southern region of the U.S., leaving over 300 dead and thousands more without food and shelter.
The more than 150 tornadoes and floods over a two-day period have devastated communities and uprooted families across many states, with the hardest hit being Alabama.
Alabama’s Governor, Robert Bentley has activated National Guard troops to help in the devastated areas and the Red Cross is sending disaster workers, materials, blood products and equipment into the state. Red Cross shelters are open in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas.
Earlier in the week, tornadoes, flooding and wildfires wreaked havoc in Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois with hundreds being forced to evacuate their homes and neighborhoods
More than $2.8 million in federal and state grants have been approved to help North Carolinians recover from April 16 severe storms and tornadoes.
