Disaster Response Continues for Storm-Ravaged South

$1Million in Tornado Relief Underway; Flood Response Being Prepared

AmeriCares will be there to help communities recover from this tragic disaster as residents rebuild their homes and their lives.”

— Emergency responder, ET Theotokatos

The scope of the humanitarian crisis continues to grow in the South, after hundreds of powerful tornadoes ripped through seven states in late April, killing more than 350, crushing entire neighborhoods, and leaving tens of thousands homeless and displaced.

AmeriCares responded immediately and has since launched a prolonged tornado relief operation, including deliveries of more than $1 million in medicines, humanitarian aid and water to help families struggling to recover.

One day after the killer twisters struck, AmeriCares dispatched a relief expert to impact areas to mobilize emergency aid to health care providers, shelters and food banks serving communities in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas:

• Emergency medical aid for safety net clinics: Two targeted shipments were delivered to the Access Family Health Clinic, in Smithville, MS, including medicines to treat patients with cardiac, gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments, bandages, hygiene items and cleaning supplies. A third shipment of chronic and acute care medicines valued at $949,000 is now underway to help the town, which was leveled by a deadly 205 mph tornado. Shipments of $26,344 in needed respiratory medication have been sent to five clinics in Virginia, Arkansas and Tennessee.
  
• Clinic recovery grants: Access Family Health Clinic was awarded an AmeriCares grant to fund a temporary facility to treat patients while heavy damages to the clinic are repaired. A similar grant has been approved for an Arkansas clinic.
  
• Targeted assistance: The Interfaith Clinic in Conway, AR, received a shipment of cleaning supplies for families trying to salvage the remains of their homes, along with blankets and hygiene items for those left homeless. A second shipment is underway.
  
• Eight truckloads of water totaling 352,000 bottles from Nestle Water North America were delivered to impact areas. 256,000 arrived at food banks in Alabama and Tennessee, 96,000 bottles will go to the Salvation Army in both states, and 3,200 are due at an Alabama clinic.
• New emergency aid shipments: A shipment of chronic and acute care medications valued at $169,925 is being delivered to the M-Power Clinic in Birmingham, AL, and $12,000 in emergency aid is due to ship to the Tuscaloosa Family Resource Center. A shipment of requested diabetes supplies is bound for the Helping Hand Clinic in Sanford, NC. Additional shipments are in process for health care providers in impact areas.

One of the dozens of houses destroyed by the tornado in Smithville

Meanwhile, the southern portion of the U.S. is faced with the most severe breakout of Mississippi River flooding since the 1930’s. AmeriCares has reached out through its U.S. Clinic Network, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Free Clinics, Feeding America, and the Salvation Army to prepare a targeted response for those affected in Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.

AmeriCares responds immediately to disasters: tornadoes and floods in the South, hurricanes in the Gulf, wildfires in the West. Wherever disaster strikes in the U.S. and around the world, we are ready to help save lives and restore health and hope.

Read More about our tornado disaster relief efforts in Joplin, Missouri >>

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