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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

ECSO lends help in tornado cleanup

Atmore, Alabama -
Five members of the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office are lending a hand in Rainsville following a “catastrophic” hit by the storms that ripped through Alabama Wednesday.
Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith, Chief Deputy Mike Lambert, Adam Johnson, Brandon Burkett and Jason Yoder are working with other officers to help secure the devastated area.
Lambert said the conditions in the Sand Mountain area of the state where the group is working is may be just as devastated, if not more, than other areas in the state.
“It looks like somebody dropped a bomb here,” Lambert said Friday from Rainsville. “The damage here can only be described as catastrophic. I’ve seen places damaged by hurricanes, but this is so much worse. Even the shrubbery here is stripped.”
Lambert said duties assigned to the group mainly consist of security. Looting, he said, is not a problem.
“There isn’t much to loot,” Lambert said. “There are people here who have nothing, and I mean nothing, left. The storm came through here Wednesday night around 7:30 p.m. when most people were home. Most people only escaped with the clothes on their back and their vehicle. There is a curfew in place and people seem to be adhering to that very well.”
Lambert said the sights throughout Rainsville were the same with few homes left standing.
“We drive through an area and all we see are driveways and yards,” Lambert said. “We know there used to be a house or mobile home in these spots, but there isn’t one now. Most of the time all you see is a clean concrete slab or dirt. There isn’t even a block left standing on most spots.”
Along with homes ripped from their foundations, power poles and even the trees have been destroyed.
“A lot of the pine trees here have been stripped of their bark,” Lambert said. “I don’t mean that some of the bark has been blown off, it looks like it’s been completely stripped away leaving a slick tree trunk behind.”
Lambert said temporary morgues have been put into place for the more than 40 dead in the city as a result of the storm.
“They have brought in coolers and other supplies needed to take care of the bodies found here,” Lambert said. “As of today (Friday) the search and rescue missions have been changed to a recovery mission. It’s just unbelievable how things are here.”
Lambert said food and water from outside sources had just begun to arrive Friday.
“There were some churches and other groups that were providing limited food and water before (Friday),” Lambert said. “Outside groups are just now coming into the area to provide some kind of relief with those needs. A Salvation Army group out of Atlanta just got here.”
Lambert said the five who are working in the north Alabama town were deployed, much like a National Guard unit, to help with the situation.
“We are members of the Region 1 division of the National Law Enforcement Response Team with the Division of Homeland Security,” Lambert said. “We were called around 7 p.m. Wednesday night and gathering things to come help.”
Lambert said the group met with other units from south Alabama and made their way to Montgomery for briefing and assignments.
“We got to Montgomery and worked until about 2 a.m. getting information about the hardest hit areas in deaths across the state,” Lambert said. “We got our assignments and headed north about 6 a.m. Thursday. We got to Rainsville and began working setting up our base camp and making arrangements for fuel and other supplies. Just as quick as we got settled we went on shift until early Friday morning.”
Lambert said the group would remain mobilized in the area until their services are no longer needed.
“We’ve been told it will be a minimum of 14 days before power is restored here,” Lambert said. “Power is supplied to this area from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has to span the Alabama River. It’s going to take some time to get that service line restored. Even the metal power poles here are bent, twisted or crushed. There is a lot of work left to do here.”

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