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Government

The Frustrating Story of an Ala. Town Still Fighting With FEMA Nearly Two Years After Disaster

Nov. 19, 2012 10:09am Erica Ritz

(TheBlaze/AP) — Main Street in an old Alabama mill town looks about the same as it did the day after tornadoes killed about 250 people across the state a year and a half ago. Battered red bricks and broken glass litter the pavement, and the buildings still standing are rickety and roofless.

The entire one-block downtown, still deemed unsafe, remains sealed off by a chain-link fence. City officials blame the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying the money they were promised to demolish skeletons of the old buildings is mired in miles of red tape.

When one request for photos or historical documentation is met, FEMA makes another, the mayor and others in this town of 2,100 say. One crop of workers is replaced by another, forcing locals to constantly explain their problems to new people.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Mayor Drew Gilbert, a 25-year-old Cordova native who served on the City Council before taking office this month. “You would think it’s been touched and seen now by everyone who needs to touch and see it.”

Cordova, Alabama Residents Fed Up With FEMA a Year and a Half After Tornadoes Devastated Town

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 photo, Cordova, Ala. , Fire Chief Dean Harbison gestures as he discusses the town’s tornado-damaged downtown. (Photo: AP)

On April 27, 2011, dozens of tornadoes ripped across the southeast, spawned by freakish weather. Hundreds were killed and thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, causing more than $1 billion in damage.

While cleanup and demolition projects are moving along in devastated communities like Tuscaloosa and Hackleburg – where wrecked homes and businesses are mostly gone and new ones are slowly being built – Cordova’s downtown stands out as an eerie reminder of the destruction.

But FEMA officials say they’re only just doing their job in Cordova, documenting damaged buildings and covering all the details before providing money to tear them down.

“This project involves demolition of multiple historically significant structures and requires that FEMA consider all pertinent environmental and historic preservation laws before funding the project,” the agency said in response to questions from The Associated Press.

Yet the process has been baffling not just for local residents but to the head of historic preservation for the state, Elizabeth Brown.

In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 photo, Cordova, Ala. , Fire Chief Dean Harbison, left, and Mayor Drew Gilbert walk through the town’s tornado-damaged downtown. (Photo: AP)

“I think FEMA needs to give their people in the field more latitude,” Brown, the preservation officer for the Alabama Historical Commission, said. “It seems things have to keep going back up the chain.”

Brown said the demolition process seems to be taking longer than usual in Cordova, but government rules don’t set out a strict timetable for such decisions since needs and damage can vary so greatly from one place to another. But roughly a year and a half later, town leaders say they’re troubled by the fact that FEMA has still yet to give them a firm timetable.

Located in coal country about 35 miles northwest of Birmingham, Cordova began in the 1880s at a spot where two railroad lines converged. A textile mill operated in town for about seven decades before closing in 1962.

The mill’s failure displaced 800 workers and sent Cordova into a tailspin. A number of the 19 or so buildings in the downtown block were already deteriorating by the time the twisters struck last year. Now the main jobs are primarily in the schools, a bank, a pharmacy and a health clinic. The town’s sole grocery store was wiped out and has yet to reopen; a convenience store near the battered downtown block has closed, too.

In this May 6, 2011, file photo, a cross stands outside the Long Memorial Methodist church in Cordova, Ala. (Photo: AP)

Cordova Fire Chief Dean Harbison, who also serves as the town’s recovery coordinator, said FEMA was helpful at first.

“They’ve provided us some money,” Harbison said. “But as far as recovery, they’ve slowed us down.”

A long-term plan sponsored by FEMA initially recommended reclaiming downtown Cordova, but Haribson said an in-depth examination revealed major structural problems and city officials decided to demolish the entire block.

The mix of privately and publicly owned buildings with shared walls and varying amounts of damage apparently proved insurmountably confusing for the FEMA officials.

“You’d think they’ve encountered that before,” Gilbert said. “But it’s been a problem.”

Town leaders didn’t anticipate historical considerations being the main roadblock to demolition because the damaged buildings weren’t on state or national historic registers, but FEMA started asking for photos and reports documenting the buildings’ past and architecture, Harbison said.

After two rounds of requests and a conference call, FEMA finally sent its own photographer to document what’s left of the city on Oct. 29, he said.

“They’re saying they should be finished with the review by Jan. 4,” said Harbison. That means no decision will be made on whether to fund the demolition will be made for at least two more months, he said, and the two-year anniversary of the tornadoes could pass with the fractured buildings still looming over Cordova.

It’s hard to come or go from the town without driving past the decimated area, and the mayor said the sight is a mental barrier to moving the city forward. Three fires have burned in the damaged area since the tornadoes – one accidental, two suspected arsons, including one in which two people were charged – and the blazes further weakened structures blasted by the twisters.

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, second from left, and others, speaks about superstorm Sandy during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Headquarters in Washington, Oct. 31, 2012. (Photo: AP)

Gilbert said the rickety buildings stand in an area that could become a home for new businesses now that a new four-lane highway linking Birmingham and Memphis, Tenn., runs just a few miles from the city, but that can’t happen until the old ones are demolished. The struggling city can’t afford the estimated $933,000 cost of demolishing the structures, he said, so it’s counting on FEMA to fill the gap.

“Our entire economy is gone, and it’s like they’re just doing nothing,” said Gilbert.

But FEMA spokesman Danon Lucas said that’s not true.

“I know the city looks at it as delays, but we have been working through the process that’s required,” he said. “This doesn’t happen often. Demolition like this isn’t a regular occurrence.”

No other Alabama city has had the same problem since the twisters, Brown said. While it took about a year to approve the demolition of the high school in the northwest Alabama town of Phil Campbell because of historical considerations, Cordova is in a league of its own, she said.

“I can’t blame them for being frustrated with FEMA,” she said.

–

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Comments (32)

Haroldm1
Posted on November 20, 2012 at 12:18am
Maybe someone can explain to me the usefulness of FEMA. I could maybe understand if AA Federal Agency was on hand to hand out bottles water…But the reason you have insurance is to help you when your property is destroyed or damaged. I have no use for funding FEMA to rebuild/house/feed/etc people when a disaster strikes. NOT ONE Federal Employee (or FEMA employee) came to offer me thousands of dollars when my roof was destroyed by a hail storm. NOR have they been on hand after a tornado destroys a country home….What gives? Maybe it’s because home/business owners should have INSURANCE to cover these losses…Towns and Cities are yet another thought….

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- FatFreedom
  Posted on November 20, 2012 at 10:56am
  The government fails at everything it tries to do. They tax us one dollar for FEMA so they can give us back 40 cents when we are in need. And that is the best case scenario.
  
  Milton Friedman said it best when he said:
  “But the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert and in five years they have a sand shortage!”
  
  Just like Katrina victims. The only reason many of them got back on their feet was because of churches and volunteers that helped them.
  
  See short video of one volunteer group that helped out:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_i3iPYfUxQ
  
  Report this comment
Coolbreeze56
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:56pm
Can’t these people do anything without the federal government spoon-feeding them? The town sucked before the storm, sucks now. Pump a few million into it, it will still suck.

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term limits for congress
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:07pm
They have coal there? Awww, heck No – they’ll never get anything from Dear Leader – except ‘fair market value’ when their land is seized.

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Tex Expatriate
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:07pm
When I was nine years old in 1947 I survived an F5 tornado that killed more than 200 people and traveled more than 220 miles, cutting a destructive swath that reached a mile wide in places. This was long before FEMA and Federal intervention in the business of Americans. Nearly all signs of that tornado in my small town of 5,000 people were totally gone a year later, and were gone two years later—and not because of Federal interference. Americans took care of themselves back then.

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Mojoron
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:53pm
This is the reason why states need to come up with their own disaster programs. The Fed’s will NOT be there for you when stuff happens. As, hopefully, federal budgets are cut states will be expected to carry the burden, as they should. If they can’t do it then tear it down and start over.

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banjarmon
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:27pm
Send Biden the “Homeboy” to help!!!!!

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bamanana
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:23pm
Hmm wonder if Egypt is going to have the same difficulty in getting the money Obama promised them? Our country sends billions of $$$ to countries who hate us and will make Americans go through red tape and ridiculous guidelines to receive any help after a disaster. The towns & cities affected by disasters usually get 90-75 per cent re-imbursement of clean up.

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thegreatcarnac
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:15pm
Alabama is a red state. Obama will not help and he will not let FEMA assist either. IF the town has a majority of white people…..that is anothe strike against them. Isn’t freedom and equality wonderful (sarc.)?

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- Small_Al
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 12:21pm
  I got news for you, Obama only helped the blue states of NY and NJ until the election, now he’s ignored them. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com
- Stab_friendly
  Posted on November 21, 2012 at 4:30am
  And Bushs excuse for Katrina, in LA which is also a RED state… Is….
  Over half a decade later and New Orleans is still not fixed
  
  Report this comment
Carol1955
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:58am
If people or towns insist they need federal money to do anything, then they are going to eventually be led around by the nose. We must stop thinking of the federal government as the sole avenue of getting things done. This town needs to move on and do what needs to be done and stop whining about the government.

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Lordcsmith
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:32am
As Eddie Izzard pointed out, “in America, they have historical sites that go all the way back to fifty years ago”

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chips1
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:27am
It seems like FEMA also controls Verizon. Both can’t figure out how to do their jobs.

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BlackCrow
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:15am
Those rednecks are not going to vote for Communists. Come on they know they can’t buy their votes so let them suffer.

Its the Chicago way, don’t you know?

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- Oilfield_Trash
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:40am
  The Great State of Alabama is one of the “Red” states, I guarantee the liberals in the north eastern areas that had damage from Sandy will not have to go thru the same, although the news portrays Sandy as an “end of the world” disaster.
  
  Report this comment
rosegrower
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:13am
This can only be because Obama hates white people and southerners. Can’t be government inefficiency.

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MrKnowItAll
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:12am
Government is Great. $1420.00 house payment. $1200.00 in Income. MSHDA Classes. MSHDA Certificate. Down Payment Financial Help from Government Agency. FHA Loan.
Don’t think I’m Fibbing Here. If you can’t figure out how I’m doing. It ain’t Good!

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kfogs1957
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:39am
Not to worry, our President will probably stop by on his return trip from over seas. Oh, wait, there isn’t an election coming up so he probably won’t.

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IMCHRISTIAN
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:35am
From Maxine:

“I wish a bright star would appear in the east over Washington DC.
We could use a few wise men up there”

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- watashbuddyfriend
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:56am
  Yes, we sure could use some wise men up in DC!
  
  Report this comment
RJJinGadsden
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:33am
Cordova is a tiny community out in the middle of nowhere. The major MSM is in and around New York and New Jersey can’t get FEMA off it’s dead ass to accomplish anything there. So, who gives a crap about a small town. Hahaha, I worked around FEMA on their first action in 1980. Looks like they are still as useless as they were then.

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Gonzo
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:23am
…but government will do a much better job with healthcare, right? If nothing else, Obamacare may make Social Security solvent again. Nobody will live long enough to get their money back.

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bdandsl
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:22am
Ain’t big government great!

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doomytram
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:21am
This is Obozo’s Amerika….. Obamunism.

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Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:21am
Maybe, just maybe, someday somebody will have had enough. The residents could take down the fence and start doing what is in their power to do in remedy of the situation. For some reason, they choose to be restrained by a chain link fence and some government troll with a clipboard.

Sounds like they didn’t just lose their buildings…they lost their backbones too.

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- longknifed
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 1:00pm
  According to Glenn Beck there are no FEMA camps, so there is nothing to worry about.
  
  Report this comment
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:21am
One more prime example of FEMA government interference and idiocy on top of uttermost incompetency. This is the future of Obamas tyranny.

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- chips1
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 11:41am
  The city council should erect a large billboard with the names of all of the FEMA employees they have talked to in order to expose the idiots sent by the government. All of these type stories never include names. Why not?
  
  Report this comment
benrush
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:18am
Hello, this is the effect of central planning. These are the impacts of collectivism. Big Government can operate in no other fashion.

The answer is Americanism. The answer is independence. The answer is individualism. Tell the central planners to take a hike. Fend for yourself, pay your own way, and resist the temptation to turn your individualism over to a group of Soviet style central planners.

Time to kiss Big Daddy Government good bye.

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pappywags
Posted on November 19, 2012 at 10:15am
Hey I have an idea, lets turn over our healthcare to them too.

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- Proud Stray Dog
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 7:17pm
  Too late….they took it and told you to take a hike.
  
  Report this comment

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