May 1: The death toll from the second deadliest U.S. tornado outbreak on record (April 27) rose above 335 on Saturday...some estimates put the number of homes and buildings destroyed close to 10,000. Models forecast insured property losses of between $2 billion and $5 billion. The tornadoes mauled Alabama's poultry industry -- Alabama is the No. 3 U.S. chicken producer -- and triggered a controlled shutdown of the nuclear reactors at Browns Ferry.

The death toll in Alabama, the hardest-hit state, rose to 246 on Saturday, with hundreds still missing in the Tuscaloosa areas. At least 90 more deaths were reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana. Arkansas had been struck a few days earlier with a combination of flood and tornadoes.

We heard from Virginia Morgan (AL) on April 28 that all of the Extension facilities were still intact and some had power in the northern part of the state. Two ag experiment stations sustained pretty significant damage. One employee suffered injury, but will fully recover, and four employees' homes received damage ranging from slight to totally demolished. 

A small group of EDEN delegates worked with Virginia to prepare a "Ten Steps to Recovery" document needed by her agents in the northern part of the state. The document also formed the basis for our weekly EDEN blog post. Virginia also pulled from EDEN and other Extension resources to post relevant tornado information on Alabama EDEN.

EDEN is corresponding with the National Hazard Mitigation Association (NHMA) about a possible webinar on safe rooms, to involve FEMA, Extension and our VOAD state and national partners.