BIRMINGHAM, Alabama. -the tornado which has cleared the House of the entrepreneur Robert Rapley also swept his livelihood, destroying its saws, his spray paint and his truck. As thousands of other people in a region already struggling with high unemployment rates, it must now the opportunity to try to recover with no means of livelihood.
"We lost everything," Rapley said he climbed on the wreck. "I can't even go to work."
Thousands have been driven out of work by spirals last week that killed 328 people throughout seven States in the outbreak of deadly tornado in the country since the depression. Hundreds of factories and other businesses were destroyed, and many others were left without electricity.
Financial and economic balance is still posted, but officials in the hardest affected Alabama--which had more than two-thirds of the dead--said the damage could only rival 1 billion in insured losses, the State has suffered from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"It will be extremely high," said Seth Hammett, Director of the Alabama Development Office.
Many people have difficulty ends before even that spirals flatten districts in Alabama, Tennessee, the Georgia and the Mississippi River, where unemployment in March ranged from 9.2% in Alabama to 10.2% in Mississippi.
Curtis Frederick, 28, could find no work to provide for her three children outside to deliver newspapers. Then a tornado destroyed his mobile home in Tuscaloosa Park.
"There is many people who need help", he said. "We are evil already of the economy being bad."
Rain in several States Tuesday added to the misery for those who seek to recover their property of badly damaged homes. Gray and chilly Tuscaloosa, many lost everything, including coats, shirts and sweaters, sweat leaving thrill of ship temperatures in the low 50s.
Becky Curtis sitting in the bathroom, one of the only dry places in his small apartment in red brick, sorting in the old cassettes. In another room, rain sank into holes in the ceiling on its hardwood flooring.
"We are trying to get all these things here too quickly as possible to save a few memories", she said. Rain "certainly does not help."
In Birmingham, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited a centre for aid and Don in a neighbourhood of his home town which was heavily damaged. She grew up in the city and still has family there.
"You realize that there are with each House is flattened, dreams and memories that are passed with this House.". "If it's a human tragedy," said rice, who served in the administration of George w. Bush.
One of the twisters destroyed a Wrangler jeans distribution centre employing 150 people in Hackleburg, Alabama of approximately 1,500. The city is a County with an unemployment rate of 13%.
"That an industry is the city, said Hammett." Until they get back up and go once more, this city will not the same. ?
VF Corp., parent company of Wrangler, said he looks at the establishment of distribution operations in another location nearby to allow people to get back to work quickly, and employees will continue to receive the pay and benefits in the meantime. Eric Wiseman, President and CEO, said that VF also sets up a support centre where workers can receive food, water, gift cards and other essential supplies.
A plant of Toyota in Huntsville engines with 800 employees lost power and was struck by the commission when a tornado damaged electricity transmission lines. Toyota said Tuesday that it is not known when the power will be restored.
In Smithville, Miss, the storm heavily damaged three facilities owned home row Home Furnishings, which manufactures sofas and other furniture, said CFO Tony Watson. With 150 employees, the company was the largest employer in the city, Alderman Jimmy Dabbs said.
The company will relocate its operations of Smithville, in a public building in Mantachie approximately 30 minutes from Smithville. About 25 employees of Smithville are already back to work at other plants in nearby towns.
"We try to keep our people so that they can get a pay cheque. "It might be six months or a year before reopen us in Smithville, and that they must follow orders or we will lose out of accounts," said Watson.
The Georgia is presented of losses of property insured at $ 75 million or more, while Dan Batey Farm Tennessee Insurance Bureau, said his company expects to pay out about $ 100 million in claims. Mississippi and Tennessee officials had no immediate estimate.
In the Pleasant Grove of Birmingham section, Katrina Mathus did not return to work as a tornado ripped through its windows, eliminated its electricity and exposed insulation she said causes wheezing asthmatic daughter.
The unmarried mother aged of 35 years of three daughters, said instability caused by living in different hotels for these last days has kept his return to his job as a nurse. She has difficulty sleeping.
"Whenever I close my eyes I see trees, walking people and crying, debris everywhere in the world," she said.
People chased out of the work by the storms will be entitled to benefits unemployment and federal aid disaster.
It is difficult to predict how long it will take to the affected areas recover, but reconstruction projects could at least soften the economic shock.
"" Reconstruction is enormous, said Sam Addy, Director of the Center for Business and Economic Research of the University of Alabama. "".That brings a lot of jobs and cash flow in the local area. The largest economy, is a loss. ?
In Birmingham, Rapley and his wife, Adrienne, survived the tornado by taking cover in a room next to her garage storage. He - she suffers from a brain injury - and then they have prayed: "the Lord is my shepherd". The deed to his property has disappeared, taken away by tornadoes. The House they shared for 20 years is destroyed.
For the moment, they remain in a hotel, in the hope that they get federal aid soon.
"It is very expensive," said Rapley. "We spend our last dime right now."
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Have contributed to this report Jay Reeves in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. ; Randall Dickerson in Nashville, Tennessee. Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss. ; Eric Tucker in Birmingham, Alabama and Ray Henry in Atlanta.
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