Alabama tornadoes - June 2011 - One phone call made at a K of C hall in Tuscaloosa formed a relief effort for hundreds in need

[Ron Ablang]

From Violent Winds
5/30/2011

One phone call made at a K of C hall in Tuscaloosa formed a relief
effort for hundreds in need

by Brian Dowling

A map of the southern United States is marked with a cluster of
multicolored lines. Moving northeast, many begin along the eastern side
of Mississippi and move toward the northern border of Georgia. These
lines represent the more than 300 tornadoes that littered their path
with splintered homes and people's belongings over three days in late April.

Provided by the National Weather Service, the map rates each storm's
severity by color. Light blue is moderate damage; blue, considerable;
orange, severe. Red is extreme damage, and, for reasons unknown, pink
indicates tornadoes that can cause total destruction of sturdy
buildings. One red line on the map — representing a severe EF-4 tornado
from April 27 — begins near the small town of Union, Ala., and runs
about 80 miles to Birmingham.

Around 6 p.m. local time, with screaming 190-mph winds, the 1.5-mile
wide tornado diagonally bisected the city of Tuscaloosa, home to about
90,000 people. After it passed, some residents wandered the streets in
shock, shouting names of missing people. Others took chainsaws and began
the process of cleaning up. Still others began to carry their belongings
to destinations unknown.

From Alberta City, a Tuscaloosa neighborhood that was in the tornado's
path, a handful of men hiked five miles to their parish, Holy Spirit
Catholic Church. As members of a Hispanic Round Table of Tuscaloosa
Council 4083, they called the grand knight and opened the K of C hall.
Victor Tlapanco, a middle-aged Mexican-American Knight, met the men
there and organized the group. He laughed when asked how he ended up in
the middle of these efforts. With hopefulness in his voice, he contested
that although he directs people, there are dozens of others doing more
important work.

Tlapanco had some disaster training in the past and quickly formed a
plan: go out and look for other Knights. They eventually found four of
their brother Knights who lost everything.

"But during the search-and-rescue action, we found that no Hispanics
were where they used to be," Tlapanco said. They weren't in the shelters
or their neighborhoods, which then lacked electricity and water.

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A satellite view of Tuscaloosa shows the tornado's path. (Courtesy Google)

A STATE OF EMERGENCY

A 140-mph tornado can easily uproot trees. At 170 mph, winds can flip a
bulldozer or throw a dump truck 50 yards. (Southwest of Tuscaloosa, such
winds lifted a 2-ton utility trailer into the air and deposited it a
mile away, where it left a 2.5-foot impact crater.) Winds of 190 mph can
effortlessly strip the roofs and walls from buildings.

An even stronger tornado, with more than 200-mph winds, raged through
the northwest portion of Alabama while the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado
hit miles away. It was the main EF-5 storm in the state, and it took
more than 70 lives from the small towns it visited.

Ray Galloway has been through these towns, pulling both survivors and
the bodies of the deceased from toppled buildings. As commander of the
142nd Battlefield Surveillance Brigade of the National Guard stationed
in Decatur, Ala., he was called into action immediately after the
storms. His 600-soldier unit moves through small towns like Phil
Campbell, Hackelburg, Cordova and Mt. Hope, providing services that
include search and rescue, debris removal, route clearance, security,
and help distributing aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A 49-year-old Knight with St. Dominic Council 14507 in Mobile, Galloway
lived through destructive hurricanes during Katrina in 2009 and Ivan in
2004, but is still affected by what he and his unit now see on a daily
basis. "I stood in neighborhoods that didn't exist anymore," he said.
"It was hard to determine there was a neighborhood there. There was no
evidence of homes, just rubble."

He added that churches, like Tlapanco's in Tuscaloosa, are leading the
recovery in these communities.

Alabama State Deputy Raymond M. Carney has likewise been tied into the
statewide relief efforts from the beginning. Days after the storms, he
had a relief account established, and other K of C jurisdictions were
soon funneling money to the cause. Just a few weeks earlier, similar
relief efforts began with assistance from the Supreme Council, following
devastating tornadoes that swept through other states, including Iowa
and North Carolina.

Both Carney and Galloway shared a sense that there is something that
can't be expressed in words or even photographs about the destruction
and recovery in Alabama, something that will just remain with the people
there. "The pictures don't really do justice to the real thing because
you can't smell those pictures," Galloway said. "You can't hear the
voices of people when they're sincere about what they saw."
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Knight Victor Tlapanco (left) talks with Angela Schoolmann (center)
about the food from an area restaurant she brought as a donation.
(Courtesy of Tuscaloosa News)

CREATING A REFUGE

Tlapanco's solution for the case of the missing Hispanics in Tuscaloosa
was to invite them to the relief center at Holy Spirit Church. He said
that many Hispanics hid and refused to go to a shelter because, losing
everything, they no longer had identification.

"They're finding textbooks from the University of Alabama in Gadsden,
Ala.," which is 121 miles away by car, said Steve Griffin, a member of
Council 4083. "They're finding receipts from here in Birmingham, so
they're probably finding people's documentation in some little town in
Alabama."

Due to an ongoing immigration debate in the southern states that
empowered some public servants to check people's documentation, the
missing Hispanics were caught in the anxiety of being without proof of
their nationality. Around closed-off areas of town, authorities were
asking for IDs to allow only residents to enter, but in the minds of
many Hispanics, it was an immigration issue.

"Rumors run faster than the wind," said Tlapanco. When President Barack
Obama visited Tuscaloosa April 29, some in the Hispanic community heard,
wrongfully, that he was bringing immigration officers. Many decided to hide.

After opening the relief center at Holy Spirit Church, Tlapanco returned
to Alberta City to seek out those refusing help. He told them to come to
the church: "The Knights of Columbus are here to help our Catholic
community." Many took a chance and followed Tlapanco.

Arrivals at Holy Spirit Church are registered and assessed for medical
attention. They are then offered food. "We're trying to keep hot lunches
for everybody," Tlapanco said.

Inside the parish hall, volunteers work everywhere. People sort piles of
clothing in the middle of the floor. Along the sides of the hall, tables
hold perishable food and baby items. Two doorways lead to the nurse and
the kitchen. Fifty people run the place day and night, and in the first
few days many slept on blow-up mattresses that, during the day, were
neatly stacked along a wall.

Within the first few days, a representative from the Mexican Consulate
from Atlanta visited the center and spoke with about 300 people there.
The consulate representative arrived at 2 p.m., expecting to assist a
few dozen people. He left 26 hours later, having offered help to about
75 families.
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A woman looks through clothing that was donated to the relief
center.(Courtesy of Tuscaloosa News)

Although aid for the Hispanic community was the initial purpose of the
relief effort at Holy Spirit Church, Tlapanco said, "God put us here to
help people. He didn't distinguish between Anglos, Mexicans,
Guatemalans, or any kind. There are no races here, only people we want
to help."

The operation has since expanded from the Knights' hall to the parish
hall to the gymnasium of Holy Spirit School next door. People come in
throughout the day for clothes, meals, candles and water. Tlapanco is
also working on a schedule for several local restaurants that provide
food for the shelter, which feeds about 250 people each day.

Local radio stations broadcast Holy Spirit Church's location every half
hour, and CNN produced a segment on the center. But Knights there will
soon be through the worst of it. Tlapanco said that the pace is slowing,
and they will soon have time to reorganize the efforts to be more effective.

'THE REASON WE ARE HERE'

At least 340 people lost their lives during the three-day storm
outbreak. Many lost their homes and belongings, and many others were
left without electricity or running water. April 27 was the deadliest
single day of tornadoes since 1925, when tornadoes tore through
Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing about 700 people.

During his visit to Tuscaloosa, President Obama reminded a crowd that
those who were lost couldn't be brought back, but that Americans can
help "with the families dealing with the grief of having a loved one lost."

Bishop Robert J. Baker of Birmingham, a member of Our Lady of the Valley
Council 9676, wrote to those affected in his diocese after visiting
storm-damaged areas. He offered his condolences, adding "those sites
will be embedded in our memories forever." In a May 2 letter, he
encouraged the Knights in Alabama to "fly their colors" and to be a
visible presence of charity to those affected by the storms.

Pope Benedict XVI, through Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
also expressed his sadness, solidarity and "deep pastoral concern to
those affected by this natural catastrophe."

A week after the tornadoes, Tlapanco stood in the parish hall with
fellow Knights Steve Griffin and Deacon Aiden Strayer. People around
them were greeting each other as they would any other day, in any other
circumstances. Tlapanco explained that he was sitting watching TV when
the tornado missed his home.

"The reason why is," he paused for a moment, "is we are blessed.
Everyone here was blessed to be out of the tornado's path. The reason is
that God wants all of us to help. That is the reason why we are here."

BRIAN DOWLING is the creative and editorial assistant for Columbia magazine.

http://www.kofc.org/un/en/columbia/detail/2011_06_alabama_tornadoes.html