Chertoff tours tornado-damaged Tennessee
Homeland Security officials say they're applying lessons learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
JACKSON, TENN. — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured tornado-ravaged Tennessee by air and on foot early today with Gov. Phil Bredesen.
The state suffered some of the most intense damage from this week's tornadoes, with about 1,000 homes destroyed and an estimated 31 dead.
President Bush is scheduled to visit the state Friday.
Homeland Security officials said the department was applying lessons learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when a lack of coordination between local, state and federal officials hampered rescue efforts.
FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison, in Jackson to coordinate the emergency response, said his agency had created a unified command system that allowed officials of all levels to work quickly together.
"It worked in California," Paulison said, referring to recent wildfires. "It worked in Oklahoma a few months ago, and it will work here."
Bredesen said Tennessee officials would finish an estimate of economic damage by the end of the day, a step that allows the federal government to formally extend financial and other aid. The governor said he did not have a figure yet for what he expected to be substantial losses.
The state is also setting up a toll-free number for residents to call and will soon establish centers where tornado victims can register, Bredesen said.
Chertoff and Bredesen boarded military helicopters this morning to fly over a patchwork of neatly tended farm fields, small wooded areas and signs of savage destruction. Trees meant to buffer fields from the wind lay like twigs along roads. Whole forests lay flattened as if felled by a giant weed whacker.
Fields far from any home were scattered with planks and boards, the remains of houses around Jackson that were gutted by the winds. At a building site, homes under construction were reduced to haphazard heaps of yellow wooden planks, like so much freshly chopped kindling.
At one house, the wind tore the roof off, ripped the contents to shreds and tossed a battered car on top of the wreckage. Amid the chaos of splintered wooden furniture and a torn red couch, a rectangular mirror sat unscathed, reflecting the cloudy gray sky above.
Chertoff remarked on the randomness of the tornado damage, visible in areas where just a few feet separated people and property from devastation. Tornadoes rampaged through one backyard, snapping the trunk of a massive tree. The jagged edges of the raw wood, bright yellow against the ridged brown bark, were just feet away from a rickety toolshed that stood intact.
