Interagency Cooperation of Incident Management
Severe Tornado Outbreak in the Southern United States, April 2011
Brief Description
On 27-28th April 2011, America witnessed its severest tornado outbreak since the year 1974. The month became one among the most devastating, active, and fatal tornado months recorded for the nation, serving as a potential benchmark for future months. SPC (Storm Prediction Center) information reveals a total of 875 preliminary tornadoes were reported in that month, with the final count of tornadoes approaching an all-time high of 542 following completion of storm surveys (NOAA, 2011). The prior record for April was a total of 267 tornadoes in April of 1974, with the highest for all months being May 2003, which witnessed 542 tornadoes (NOAA, 2011). Regarding April tornadoes, the 3-decade average was 135 (NOAA, 2011). In April, a large number of major, multi-day outbreaks of tornadoes impacted the nation, with the regions being hit the hardest being the Southeast, Southern Plains, Mid-Atlantic region, and Ohio River Valley (NOAA, 2011).
Importance of the disaster
The 2011 tornado outbreak had been a severe climatic disaster that could be compared to, and possibly even surpassed, the outbreak on April 34, 1974. While the overall tornadoes in one day (199) were greater in number as compared to that of 1974 (148), the percentage of area covered by the 2011 outbreak was roughly a fourth of that covered by the 1974 tornadoes, rendering the former disaster highly concentrated (Knupp et al., 2014). Thus, a significant impact was witnessed in the impacted area (AL, specifically). Another key element to remember is that super tornado outbreaks can alter the short-term climatologies of tornadoes to a great extent, as proven by Smith and colleagues (2012) research that covered the period between 2003 and 2012.
Analysis of the emergency operations center at the local government level
The NWS (National Weather Service) had, for several days, been observing, with progressive alarm, the unsteady meteorological conditions that were developing over the Southern and Western regions. On April 23, 2011, the Hydro-meteorological Prediction Center of the Weather Service warned of a potential major heavy rainfall occurs in the Ohio and mid-Mississippi River valleys with the capacity of generating moderate or heavy rainfall together with thunderstorms. It was concluded that hail, tornadoes, strong winds, and other extreme weather events could accompany the severest storms. This was the earliest tornado mention by the Center (TRAC, 2012).
Everything didnt go wrong on April 27; rather, a great number of things did go right, which was a positive starting point when it comes to considering preparedness. There werent power outages in every place...
…the public and private sectorsThe disasters hallmarks were the torrent of local community support, both nationwide and worldwide. This attention proved advantageous to impacted regions, though it did simultaneously generate challenges such as handling great quantities of donations and a flood of volunteers. Several EMs teamed up with non-profits, such as churches having established connections with interested volunteers (Riley & Krautmann, 2013). According to a city EM, regional volunteer management directives for disasters, created based on experiences with a 2010 tornado event, offered the basis for working with volunteers. The plan partially encompasses looking at non-government organizations and the citys key competencies and ascertaining who already performs necessary activities, instead of establishing novel organizations for performing them. However, proper plan staffing proved tricky (Riley & Krautmann, 2013).
On an extended timescale, a few on-the-fly actions were volunteer coordination through the formation of a grassroots organization, volunteer recruitment to aid with accounts on social media, and a procedure developed by a not-for-profit entity on working with third-party fundraisers.
Several actions undertaken on May 20 could only occur successfully owing to already established relationships (e.g., churches accepting donations and distributing meals; faith-based organizations clearing debris; United Way catering to those with functional and access needs; Big Brothers Big Sisters contributing significantly to taking care of children while their parents completed recovery paperwork;…
References
FEMA. (2012). Mitigation Assessment Team Report: Spring 2011 Tornadoes: April 25-28 and May 22. FEMA P-908.
Knupp et al. (2014). Meteorological Overview of the Devastating April 27, 2011, Tornado Outbreak. American Meteorological Society. 95 (7): 1041–1062. Retrieved from: https://journals.ametsoc.org/bams/article/95/7/1041/88536/Meteorological-Overview-of-the-Devastating-27
NOAA (2011). National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Tornadoes for April 2011. Retrieved on July 26, 2020, from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/tornadoes/201104.
TRAC. (2012). Cultivating a state of readiness. Tornado Recovery Action Council of Alabama. Retrieved from: https://alabamaema.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/trac_report.pdf
Tornadoes: Nature's Phenomenon What is a Tornado? A tornado is "a violent, destructive, whirling wind accompanied by a funnel-shaped cloud that progresses in a narrow path over the land" (Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2012). Tornadoes can develop in mere seconds and destroy everything in their path Sometimes, a tornado will happen so quickly that there is little or no sign before it starts (Federal Emergency Management Association, 2012). A tornado can have the strongest winds on
TORNADOES What causes a tornado? Tornado' comes in English from a Spanish word 'tornada' that means 'thunderstorm'. As defined by Nation Weather Service, a tornado is a 'violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and pendant from a thunderstorm'. Tornadoes result when there is stuffiest amount of moisture in the atmosphere at lower and mid levels, and when this condition gets combined with warm unstable air that rises above
Today, however society has an extremely advanced ability to be forewarned of a possible or actual tornado sighting before it ever touches ground. One method commonly used is a Doppler radar system that can detect a tornado while it is still in the sky and warn those in its path to take cover before it touches down. There are times that it won't touch down but is swirling in
Tri-State tornado of 1925 is known to be one of the most lethal natural phenomena that has hit the U.S. especially because it found the residents of the three states that it affected totally unprepared and the path of the tornado was also long and wide in its coverage. It is estimated that the tornado took around only three and a half hours to cause the massive destruction that would
Seconds later the twister struck. The kitchen door fell on the husband, pinning him to the ground. After the roof blew away, hail battered his face and body. The house disintegrated, but he survived and so did the dog. The woman, however, was crushed in the debris (Rosenfeld 179). By coincidence, researchers from the University of Oklahoma were just outside Spencer before the tornado hit, which is one reason authors
Tornadoes in the United States Every state in the union has experienced them, and the destruction caused by tornadoes each year can climb into the billions of dollars. Scientists have learned a great deal about tornadoes over the past several decades, though, and warning systems are now able to prevent many of the casualties that tornadoes used to cause. To determine what has been learned and what steps have been taken
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now