Lessons learned two years after tornadoes

A total of eight people died in Madison County on April 27. Officials say they have learned valuable lessons two years after the natural disaster. (CONTRIBUTED)

By Aldo Amato

Staff Reporter

MADISON — April 27, 2011 will forever be remembered as one of the darkest days in North Alabama.

Massive tornadoes ripped across the state and left a path of destruction in northwest area of Madison County and parts of Madison. Aside from multiple injuries and deaths, officials from both Huntsville and Madison had to deal with numerous other problems.

Luckily, both cities had a plan in the wake of the natural disaster. But that doesn’t mean lessons weren’t learned and new groups weren’t formed to make the next severe weather event go a lot smoother.

“After the disaster, we determined what went well and what did not go well,” Paige Colburn, Emergency Management Officer at the Huntsville-Madison County Emergency Management Agency said. “There has been a new sense of understanding among public officials and city agencies.”

Colburn said volunteer training and teams like the Prepare and Response team (PAR) have come about after April 27 and grant money paved the way for efforts to build community centers in Harvest and Triana.

“There has been a lot of activity in the past two years,” she said. “But we are better prepared if such an event happens again.”

Huntsville City Administrator Rex Reynolds said the training between Huntsville and Madison city officials and agencies helped put plans into action and paved way for a smoother future.

“On that day both the City of Madison and City of Huntsville came together at the Emergency Management center in Huntsville to assess various problems in both areas,” Reynolds said. “But because of joint training sessions prior to April 27, we were able to spring into action quickly.”

Reynolds said lessons like finding the right type of generator to power intersections were learned and finding a better system for those working the disaster areas was also a key lesson learned.

“Taking care of the community is our number one priority, making sure their needs are met,” he said. “But we found out that finding the right schedule for those working the situation is also key to making it run smoother and get help out quicker.”