Today is the four year anniversary of the tornado outbreak that killed more than 200 Alabamians. The damage was widespread across the state, including in Tuscaloosa.
Mayor Walter Maddox rode out the EF4 tornado at Tuscaloosa's City Hall. He says the moments after that were spent surveying the 12.5 percent of the city that was destroyed in just six minutes.
“It’s one of the most overwhelming scenes of my life. The first time I saw the damage, it really felt like an out-of-body experience. And quite frankly, from the moment you saw it on television... that, in and of itself, was surreal, because you think, ‘that’s my community here on CNN.’”
The event was the costliest tornado outbreak and one of the costliest natural disasters in United States history with total damages of approximately $11 billion nationwide and $1.5 billion in Alabama.
Read or listen to a full discussion between Maddox and APR's MacKenzie Bates on the April 2011 tornadoes here.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson has officially accepted the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness.
Stimpson joins a coalition of 355 mayors, 7 governors, and 112 city and county officials who are committed to ending veteran homelessness in the United States.
According to Stimpson’s office, Mobile has successfully ended chronic veteran homelessness. However, 47 veterans still remain without a home. The city plans to find those without homes within the next six months.
Last week, members of Stimpson’s staff were invited to attend a conference led by First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to highlight the Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness.
New Orleans is the first major city to meet the challenge and end veteran homelessness.
A rescue squad member drowned in a north Alabama creek over the weekend while on a mission to recover a missing kayaker.
46 year old Vicky Ryan died Saturday night in Gadsden while participating in a search and rescue mission for a kayaker who capsized his boat in a rain-swollen creek. The 25 year old kayaker’s body was recovered Sunday morning.
Ryan was in one of two Etowah County Rescue Squad boats that capsized near an artificial waterfall in Big Wills Creek. Nine rescuers were pulled from the water, and several had to be taken to the hospital. A spokesman for the rescue squad says all nine were wearing life vests, but one was pulled off by the force of the water.
Ryan was pronounced dead Saturday night.