FEMA Helping States Recover From Tornado Outbreak
Release Date: February 6, 2008
Release Number: R4-08-033
» 2008 Region IV News Releases
ATLANTA, Ga. -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responding to areas struck by tornadoes overnight.
FEMA liaisons are in the state emergency operations centers in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, and the Atlanta-based Federal Incident Response Support Team deployed at midnight and is now in Lafayette, Tenn., 60 miles northeast of Nashville.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) reports 26 fatalities, more than 100 injuries and damage and/or power outages in at least nine counties across the western two-thirds of the state. A suburban Memphis shopping mall and the FedEx hanger at Memphis International Airport were damaged. Interstate 40 was closed for a time after 25 tractor-trailers were blown over and more than 45,000 customers were without power as of 6 a.m. today. Union University in Jackson, Tenn., suffered severe damage that displaced some 1,000 students but, fortunately, no fatalities. TEMA also reports an explosion shut down a Columbia Gulf gas pipeline.
Kentucky reports seven fatalities and damage in at least four counties, and Mississippi reports damage in three Memphis-area counties.
The FEMA Regional Response Coordination Center in Thomasville, Ga., activated at 7 a.m. today and will monitor and assist the affected states in any way possible.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
