Death toll from southern tornados devastating but tourism escapes wrath

The death toll from the second deadliest US tornado outbreak on record last week in the US’s south rose above 350 and almost everyone in some smaller towns was affected by the tragic events. But there was little or almost no impact on tourist related activities.
 

Some smaller towns such as Tuscaloosa in Alabama today were still looking for bodies in ruined buildings.
 

The main airport in St. Louis was expected to operate a full flight schedule Tuesday, however, less than four days after a powerful tornado tore through the facility, according to airport officials. Some flights were delayed.
 

But restoration efforts are far from over at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, where last week’s storms shattered windows and ripped off part of a roof.
 

"It obviously just took a couple of minutes for the damage to occur," Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge told CNN’s "American Morning." She added:
 

"It will take weeks, maybe a couple of months, to clean up all of it."
 

Still, Hamm-Niebruegge said efforts to get the facility up and running again have been "miraculous."
 

There were no fatalities reported there — a fact characterized by some as "absolutely amazing."
 

US President Barak Obama who toured the South after the storms described the loss of life as "heartbreaking" and called the damage to homes and businesses "nothing short of catastrophic". He promised strong federal support for rebuilding.
 

Some of the worst damage was in Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama.
 

Over several days, the powerful tornadoes — there were more than 160 reported in total — combined with storms to cut a swath of destruction heading west to east.
 

It was the worst US natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed up to 1,800 people.
 

The US National Weather Service said the storms were the most ferocious some of their forecasters had ever seen, and the deadliest since tornadoes in 1974 killed 315 people in the region.
 

The deadly tornadoes hit Alabama hardest, killing 228 people there alone, and while the cost of damage is yet to be estimated they struck as the state struggles to balance its US$19 billion budget in the face of falling revenues.
 

Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee suffered a less severe human and economic toll but those states are also making cuts and spending less to close budget gaps, says the AP.
 

The US Deep South as a whole has suffered some heavy blows from Nature and humans in recent years, such as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
 

The Alabama Tourism Department says visitors should know that anyone going to the northern part of the state should fill their gas tanks because some stations near Birmingham have no power and no gas. Some areas also have curfews.
 

Alabama is not particularly known for its tourism but major tourist stops in the state include beaches and historical sites.
 

In a recent year, an estimated 22 million people visited the state. Tourism is not a major player, however, and the travel industry only represents 5.7 percent of the state’s gross domestic product in a recent year.
 

By David Wilkening