(LibertyInsider.org) – Spring’s warmer temperatures and more frequent showers usher in welcome blooms. However, they also herald tornadoes in the Southeastern and Midwestern US, an occurrence that’s becoming more frequent in recent decades, according to one recent study. On Monday, June 10, President Joe Biden issued a disaster declaration and authorized federal assistance for Mississippi in response to an outbreak of tornadoes that damaged communities between April 8 and 11.
Governor Tate Reeves (R) and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) applied for disaster relief after tabulating the damage from four tornadoes that occurred in six counties across the state. Biden’s declaration opens avenues of assistance for Mississippi residents in Hancock, Hinds, Humphreys, Madison, Neshoba, and Scott counties. It includes grants for home repairs and temporary housing, and low-cost loans to pay for uninsured losses.
President Joe Biden approves Mississippi disaster declaration | Click on the image to read the full story https://t.co/7AjhuqQKf9
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Jeremy C. Slinker will coordinate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response in the state. Those who experienced losses in the designated counties can apply for assistance by calling 800-621-3362, visiting www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or downloading the FEMA App.
The storms damaged or destroyed 286 homes. A total of two deaths and seven injuries were reported to MEMA, although the counties appeared to count just one death and as many as nine injuries. The storms also damaged two bridges, 47 roads, three state-owned utility companies, and seven public buildings, according to MEMA reports.
The storms appear to conform to seasonal and spatial shifts in US tornado activity that researchers have observed over the last 35 years. Moreover, weather watchers say that Tornado Alley, the geographic location where tornadoes tend to concentrate, has moved from the Texas plains southeast to the Mississippi plains.
Additionally, researchers saw a reduction in summer tornadoes by as much as 37% when comparing 35-year periods between 1951 to 1985 and 1986 to 2020. Instead, storms shifted toward fall and winter. Spring still tends to be the most active season for tornadoes.
On Monday, Biden also provided a disaster declaration for Idaho in response to flooding, mudslides, and landslides that occurred in conjunction with storms on April 14 and 15. The designation made federal assistance available to tribal, state, and local governments as they continued recovery operations in the affected counties of Lewis, Idaho, and Shoshone.
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