There are many names for one of natures most destructive forces.  They are called tornadoes, twisters, cyclones, or whirlwinds.  Whatever you call them, they can wreck unimaginable havoc.  If you look up the definition of a tornado you will find the description, “a localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring overland, especially in the Middle West, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris.”  That seems like a pretty mild description of a storm with winds ranging from 100-200mph that can shred homes to rubble, tear down bridges, and uproot massive trees.  The United States of America has the largest concentration of tornadoes in the world, especially in the Midwest and Southeast.

This year was a particularly difficult tornado season for Alabama.  In 2018 Alabama faced 46 tornadoes, the annual tornado average for the area is 47 a year.  After just 4 months into the tornado season for 2019 Alabama was hit by 53 tornadoes!  Some tornadoes are smaller and less destructive than others, but they are all extremely dangerous.  On March 3rd a category EF4 tornado hit Lee County killing 23 people.  Jim Stefkovich, who was once the meteorologist in charge for the area said, “on March 3 in Lee County alone we more than doubled the amounts of deaths that occurred in the United States in 2018.”  But emergency response crews now have a way of minimizing this.

One of the hardest parts of completing a rescue mission after a tornado is searching for survivors through the wreckage left behind.  When trying to save lives time is of the essence.  If trees are blocking roads or houses are in piles rescuers are slowed down.  This year police began using drones to help speed up the rescue process.  Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said, “We’ve used drones in the last couple of years for different operations, but this is the first time we’ve used it for extensive search and recovery.  It gave us an overhead view of areas that we might’ve missed had we been at eye level on land.”

Before using drones, officers and K-9 Units would patrol areas on the ground, an extremely slow process.  Helicopters and planes would also be used to scan from above.  However, using helicopters and planes are immensely expensive and not entirely accurate.  Drones can solve both of these problems.  They are inexpensive and can quickly search an area.  They can even get into places that are hard to reach.  With heat sensors on them they can quickly identify bodies hidden under debris.  Some of these sensors are so sophisticated that they can differentiate between a living or deceased body, or a human or animal.

Once a drone has locate a body rescuers know exactly where to go.  It takes out the hours of searching that would have otherwise ensued.  Rescuers can be sure that they are recovering everyone lost in the wreckage, dead or alive.  At the same time there is less risk for those looking through the debris field.  A drone can let ground crews know in advance if an area is safe for them to enter.  Byron Prather, the Fire Chief of Opelika, Alabama said, “It’s a great benefit when you’re looking for a (person’s) heat signature of 98 degrees when the ambient temperature is 60 degrees. Something like that is going to stand out.  Ten years ago, it wasn’t available. That’s technology helping us do our job better.”