Rebuilding unlikely in tornado-flattened town
PICHER, Okla. -- No government money will be awarded for rebuilding any of the 100 homes leveled by a deadly tornado that tore through one of the nation's most polluted areas, state and federal officials said Tuesday.
Saturday's tornado was responsible for seven deaths in Picher. The severe weather killed another 20 people in the Plains and the Southeast.
"It really is like a small nuclear bomb went off," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said after touring the region. He was joined by David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry.
Paulison promised quick consideration of Henry's request for federal disaster recognition.
The tornado struck the heart of a federal Superfund site, where a government buyout of homes is under way in an area beset with mine collapses, open shafts, acid mine water that stains Tar Creek orange and mountains of lead-contaminated mine waste. Local children have tested high for dangerous levels of lead in their blood.
The Environmental Protection Agency has begun testing to determine whether the tornado scattered enough mining waste to raise lead levels in the air and soil in the 800-person town, which was once a thriving hub of 20,000 people.
Henry said the buyout will not prevent federal disaster aid from flowing to the area, but that the aid would help people relocate, not rebuild homes in the area.
"Rebuilding here is not going to be a real option," Henry said.
More stormy weather was predicted which would make for a soggy cleanup in towns such as Picher, where Tressie Gilmore and four family members emerged from a pile of debris that used to be their house Saturday evening, shaken but with nothing worse than bruised ribs.
On Monday, the 25-year-old joined family and friends in salvaging what they could from what remained of her mother and stepfather's home after the tornado -- with winds estimated at 165 to 175 mph -- slammed into Picher.
"It felt like evil," she said. "It didn't feel like Mother Nature. It felt personal."