Lawmakers witness tornado damage in NC, across the South

Lawmakers on Monday continued to visit communities in their
districts devastated by a string of tornadoes that left an estimated 45 people
dead.

“I’m seeing nothing but utter devastation. Homes that stood
two days ago are nothing but rubble,” Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) told The
Hill.

The congressman said that he personally sought shelter in
his car under a highway overpass with roughly 30 other vehicles.

On Monday, Butterfield flew with North Carolina Gov. Beverly
Perdue (D) via helicopter to Bertie County, one of the region’s most devastated
areas.

{mosads}“We’ve taken a major hit here in the 1st district,” he said.
“We’re at the emergency management station right now. We’ve got 11 deaths in
the county, 50 people have been injured and eight of those are seriously
injured or critically injured.”

A number of lawmakers were asking for federal assistance to
help their districts deal with the aftermath of storms that tore across the South
last week. Many lawmakers also experienced the storms firsthand, or through
their families.

Sen. Kay Hagan’s (D-N.C.) office in Raleigh lost power and was closed until Monday morning by the storms. The senator spent Sunday and Monday touring storm-ravaged neighborhoods in her state including the campus of Shaw University.

North Carolina experienced nearly half of the 45 reported
fatalities in the series of tornadoes that ripped across 12 states from
Thursday through Saturday. The National Weather Service received 249 tornado
reports over the three days.

Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) was in Washington but said his
family witnessed the damage.

“A large piece of a tree was blown into the street and
partially impacted my automobile,” he wrote in an email to The Hill. “A large
tree from next door was blown toward my home but didn’t fall. It is leaning
over my home and will be cut down today.”

Griffin has since visited areas hit by the storms, and has
been in touch with community leaders to offer his assistance.

“I have also been calling the victims’ families and I am
looking into attending memorial services of the victims,” Griffin wrote. Seven
fatalities were reported across the state so far.

Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) experienced a “very rough flight” as
he flew from Washington back to his home in Alabama’s 1^st district
during the storms, according to his press secretary Michael Lewis.

Three deaths occurred in the congressman’s district in Vinegar
Bend, Ala. Bonner has been coordinating with state emergency management
personnel, but has not visited the affected areas due to scheduled events
surrounding the anniversary of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said Lewis.

Six people in Virginia were killed, including three in Rep.
Rob Wittman’s (R-Va.) district, he told The Hill.

“I flew with [Gov. Bob McDonnell (R)] over the sites and you
could see through this particular area a very distinct path of where the
tornadoes went through,” he said. “A tremendous amount of damage, trees blown
down, some houses completely destroyed, completely leveled.”

The congressman from Virginia’s 1^st district also
experienced the storms firsthand during an outdoor event hit by rain and
lightning.

“We escaped any of the tornado activity there, but we were
out in it that afternoon,” Wittman said.

Both of Virginia’s senators were keeping abreast of damage
in their state as well. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) has been in touch with local
officials in affected areas, and stood “ready to work with any constituents
needing the help of the federal government,” according to his press secretary.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has been in touch with Gloucester
County officials to assess the damage, said his press secretary Kevin Hall.
Warner visited affected areas and met with local officials Monday, and will
return to his previous schedule Tuesday.

Many lawmakers planned to return to their previously scheduled
events after Monday.

According to Butterfield, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was already on the
ground in his district in North Carolina conducting an assessment.

“Once the preliminary assessment is complete, then the
governor … will be asking for a presidential declaration,” he said. “And
assuming that the presidential declaration is forthcoming — and I can’t imagine
that it would not be — then what we’re going to start is individual grants to
families.”

Wittman said that his district would also be requesting
federal emergency relief. According to the congressman, counties in Virginia
were in the process of conducting an assessment to petition FEMA to federally
designate the area as a disaster.

Throughout the devastation he witnessed, Wittman said there
was a great outpouring of support and more volunteers than could actually be
utilized.

“The silver lining in all of this is the response there in
the community,” he said. “People have really come together to help their
neighbors, and it’s just heartwarming to see what people are doing, putting
themselves out there.”

— This story was updated at 6:18 p.m.