Alabama
alapostille.Com

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Shuttered private properties including the former Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Norwood, the former Daniel Payne College complex in western Birmingham and vacant apartment buildings could provide long-term housing for people who have nowhere to go following the destruction of their homes, Birmingham Mayor William Bell said.

  Bell said the city, while addressing immediate needs for temporary shelter and recovery, is assembling a committee to examine those and other housing options.

"We've got to get an understanding with FEMA what we can do, what we can't do and what we can get reimbursed for," Bell said. "As you know, we're stretched to the limit with the city financially, but we're going to do everything in our power to make sure everyone gets decent housing within our community."

Bell said Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are in town and coordinating efforts with the city. In the Pratt City community of Birmingham, the former Scott School building is being used as a center where storm survivors can receive food and supplies. In addition, Boutwell Auditorium downtown remains a temporary home for the displaced.

"We won't clean this up in a few days, and we won't be back to normal in a few days," said Don Lupo, of the Mayor's Office of Citizens Assistance.

The numbers of those turning to Boutwell are expected to rise in the coming days as eople salvage their belongings and exhaust other options, Lupo said. "We're not ramping down. We're ramping up."

The Salvation Army in Birmingham is developing a long-term plan for the displaced, including providing shelter for those with nowhere else to go.

The idea in the past has been we set them up in apartments and help them with rent," said Salvation Army spokesman Brian Wallace. "This will probably be no different of a situation. Normally in these situations you're looking at a six-month plan to help people.... All of that will be logically taken care of very soon."

'Total devastation'
Wallace said last week's storm was epic in magnitude.
  "I was there where it hit in¤'98. The difference was it was so centralized and this is so vast," he said. "It goes on and on and on. It reminds me so much of Katrina. You're talking about total devastation."

The American Red Cross has estimated more than 1,000 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged statewide, an early number that will certainly rise, said spokesman Chris Osborne.

"Right now we have 16 shelters open, and more than 860 people throughout the state have used our shelters," he said.

For the long term, Osborne said the Red Cross will provide mobile feeding within affected communities and work with victims one on one.
 
Hurricane-scale hit
It will be days before officials have exact figures of homes destroyed and the people left homeless by Wednesday's deadly tornadoes, they said. "We do not have numbers because the damage assessments will be ongoing for some time, but it's fair to say thousands of homes and businesses" were destroyed, said Yasamie<CM+NT c.q. -NT> August with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

It will be later this week before estimates on property loss are compiled, said Ragan Ingram, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Insurance. "Responders are still in the search-and-recovery phase, and insurance companies are just getting mobilized," he said. But just a look at the devastation shows that the destruction will top previous tornado disasters in the state, such as those in 1974 and 1998, Ingram said.

The model appears to most closely resemble hurricane damage caused by Ivan and Katrina, several aid workers said.

"This is clearly going to eclipse anything that's tornado-related that has happened in Alabama," Ingram said. "We think certainly it's going to be a lot more than $100 million. The question is where it's going to be, and there's no way to know at this point."

Tags:  including people assembling following