The arrival of April means that we are quickly approaching the busiest time of the year. This season begins what has historically been the most active three months for tornadoes in the United States. This year, however, weather trends point to an earlier than normal season which could make twisters an imminent danger that we must be prepared for at any moment.
According to the Weather Channel the U.S. averaged 1,240 tornadoes annually from 2002 to 2021. About 53% of those occurred in the months of April, May, and June. Typically, most of those tornadoes happened in May, with an average of 277. Just in the past week there have been at least 27 tornadoes that made a path of destruction across five states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, claiming many lives, 25 in Mississippi alone.
The severe outbreak of these tornadoes has left many communities destroyed leaving families without homes, food and shelter. Many of these towns are small, minority and lower-income communities in the Mississippi Delta.
President Biden approved Mississippi’s request for an expedited major disaster declaration, making federal disaster assistance available to supplement recovery efforts. The declaration authorizes federal assistance to disaster survivors in Carroll, Humphreys, Monroe and Sharkey counties. This assistance may include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, crisis counseling, low-interest loans and other programs to help recovery efforts.
Here at Metric Consulting, along with our partners, we help communities with planning, response, recovery, and post mitigation strategies. We know the process of recovering from disasters like these can be very complex. Our team of experts can help with the management of these types of disasters all the way through the long-term recovery. It's critical to begin documenting and tracking all activities and costs associated with this potential event as early as possible. We're here to ensure that everything is properly documented and work with local communities to manage the event.
Reach out and let us help access the recovery funding and planning!