Six Months Later: Camp Creek Tornado Recovery

After two tornadoes hit the Greene County area, help poured in from all over the country.  Volunteers came by the hundreds.  But once school started, the assistance and funds began to dwindle.  "For the first time since the tornado, I've seen this community begin to get its life back," said Wayne Bettis, a Greene County resident and member of AIDNET. “It’s nothing short of phenomenal.

The community is coming together.  It's neighbor helping neighbor.  "Brick by brick, nail by nail, life in Camp Creek is getting back to normal six months after two EF3 tornadoes tore through Greene County.   Some people are helping each other instead of helping themselves.  "I've talked to people who aren't back in their own homes who have been working on other people's homes," said Steve Abernathy, a volunteer.   Which is why the area needs more help from volunteers like Abernathy and Jacob Widaul and their group from Indiana.  "This job is bigger than one person.  Nothing out here could get done individually. It takes a team of people," said Widaul.

But a lack of people is the problem in Greene County.  The Aiding In Disaster Northeast Tennessee, or AIDNET, estimates there have been more than 7,000 volunteers in the county since the tornadoes struck in April.   But those numbers have drastically decreased since August.  “We desperately need some project coordinators,” said Bettis.   “We obviously need more money. We’re in a bottleneck right now: we’ve got more cases than we can do.” 

The AIDNET organization, which connects tornado victims with resources like money and workers, said they’ve gotten nearly 100 applications for help, but they’ve only been able to work on about 40% of those. “We’re very limited on resources and very limited with volunteers,” Bettis said.Bettis said volunteers who come to the area to help are fixing more than just broken homes, they’re mending damaged souls.   “We’re rebuilding lives one heart at a time. We're not only building homes, we're getting their lives back in order,” he said.According to FEMA, nearly $18 million in federal disaster assistance was given to Tennesseans.  More than $19 million helped tornado survivors find temporary housing and make repairs to their homes.

Tennessee Becomes First State To Fight Terrorism Statewide

Tennessee Becomes First State To Fight Terrorism Statewide:

You're probably used to seeing TSA's signature blue uniforms at the airport, but now agents are hitting the interstates to fight terrorism with Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR).

"Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate," said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons.

Tuesday Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.

Agents are recruiting truck drivers, like Rudy Gonzales, into the First Observer Highway Security Program to say something if they see something.

"Not only truck drivers, but cars, everybody should be aware of what's going on, on the road," said Gonzales.

It's all meant to urge every driver to call authorities if they see something suspicious.

URGENT MESSAGE FROM GARY WARD to TN VOAD MEMBERS

Dear VOAD Members

During the recent TEMA exercise on the Watts Bar Dam I identified a short fall I need you assistance in.

The VOAD Resource guide provides Organizations, POC, general locations and general description of resources. During the exercise I realized that my institutional knowledge was lacking. 

In order to proper for the upcoming exercise on Oct 19, 2011 and future real world events I need more "formalized" information than what is currently in the Resource Book. 

I request you review the VOAD Resource Booklet and update the information with the following:

POC for Organization to include email and phone numbers.

Geographical areas.

Equipment Capabilities. i.e. 1 mobile kitchen (vehicle) with three cooks. Can feed 100 per meal for two meals per day for up to four days. Replacement crew and food stockage is than necessary.

Personal Capabilities: i.e. four three person cooking crews for four days per crew, than need replacments.

                                       Five chainsaw teams of four adults with trailiers equipped with eights chainsaws per trailers. Sizes of saws range from 18 inches to 36 inches in saw blade. Alos equpipped with 12 hand saws. Each trailer has generator and spare gas for up to four days. Need gas support afte rth third day and support with feeding and logistics after 24 hours. Can stay on sight for four to seven days.

Any additional information  that you think would be helpful.

I would appriciate if you can repond by COB Monday, October 17, 2011.

Thank You

Gary T, Ward

ESL VOAD

Tennessee's Troubles

Whatever the reasons, governors have been asking for help this year as never before. Tennessee has been first on the list. It received five presidential disaster declarations in 2011, the most in the state’s history. It endured the flooding of Nashville last year, only to be hit with springtime storms this year that devastated nearly every corner of the state.

“We’ve had wave after wave of very, very severe weather events,” says Dean Flener, a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. To cope with new t

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hreats, the state now has representatives from the National Weather Service and the Army Corps of Engineers stationed in a disaster response center to respond to floods more quickly. While dealing with this year’s damage, the 110-person agency also still is processing paperwork for more than 6,000 projects related to last year’s floods.

Iowa, Oklahoma and New York, meanwhile, also have had four presidential disaster declarations this year.

Christopher Emrich, a University of South Carolina professor who studies weather-related damage, says the country is experiencing more damage both from major events — like Hurricanes Katrina or Irene — and from “recurrent, chronic events that really don’t make the newspaper headlines.”

“Even if climate change does not influence future hazards,” says Emrich, “we clearly have droughts (now) that we can’t contend with, flooding we can’t contend with, and hurricanes and tropical systems that we have not adopted to.”

The federal government and some states have been slow to adjust to the upswing. Six times in the past decade — including this year — the federal government stopped paying for long-term recovery projects, so it could use the cash for more pressing needs. This year, finding money for disaster relief shortfalls has proven especially difficult on Capitol Hill. Last week, the U.S. House voted down a measure to spend $3.65 billion more on disaster aid before reversing itself and approving it. The eventual approval put the House at odds with the Senate, which wants more money for disaster relief.

Disasters keep Southern Baptists busy this year

Multiple natural disasters have taxed the relief arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, but leaders say the demand has inspired new volunteers and churches to get involved.

David Acres, of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, told The Tennessean he has sent out more than 3,300 volunteers this year and he will send even more in the coming weeks (http://bit.ly/nz9JRR). They are doing it on a budget of just $65,000.