Rare tornadoes in the United States have killed nearly 100 people, and US media: Extreme weather tests Biden's disaster handling ability

On the one hand, there are quiet and peaceful towns, and on the other hand, there is a tragic situation like after the war. On the 12th, many American media published such a comparison chart. From the night of the 10th to the morning of the 11th, local time, more than 30 tornadoes ravaged 6 states in the central United States, causing at least 94 deaths, dozens of people missing and several small towns destroyed. This figure is expected to rise as search and rescue efforts unfold. Kentucky Gov. Andy Behir, the hardest-hit state, estimates that the number of victims in the state alone will exceed 100.

US President Joe Biden addressed the whole country on the afternoon of the 11th, saying that he would make every effort to deal with one of the worst tornado attacks in US history, and stressed that in this case, regardless of political party, "we are all Americans." However, the reality is that such a great tragedy has not made American politicians and the media stop arguing. Democrats have been encouraged to use the opportunity to hit Republican lawmakers, while conservative media outlets have accused Biden of using the disaster to advance his climate change agenda. In the mainstream public opinion field in the United States that focuses on disasters and rescues, these may just be noises. But for Biden, the social division brought about by the sharp confrontation between the two parties and the disaster itself are severe tests for him.

It was as if a bomb had exploded around him

"Dark and massive funnel clouds whizzed through the night, destroying homes, churches and businesses, setting buildings on fire and knocking trains carrying 28 empty carriages off track, leaving behind scenes of incredible destruction." The New York Times described the scene all over western Kentucky. The state's governor, Bethel, announced on the 12th that after experiencing "the hardest night in history", the catastrophic tornado has taken at least 80 lives, and the expected death toll may eventually exceed 100.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the tornado first hit Arkansas and then tore kentucky's 200-mile (320-kilometer) path range. "The level of destruction is unmatched by anything I've ever seen in my life, and I'm struggling to find words to describe it." Behill said it was the worst, most destructive and deadliest tornado in Kentucky's history. He declared a state of emergency in the state overnight.

"It's like a bomb exploding near us." Residents of the town of Mayfield in western Kentucky told AFP they had never seen such a scene. The 10,000-strong town, known as the "atomic point" of the tornado, looked like a post-apocalyptic scene: blocks were razed to the ground, historic buildings were destroyed, trees were uprooted and cars overturned in fields. The tornado passed through the town from west to east, causing severe damage in a strip of about 1 km wide.

It is estimated that most of the death toll in Kentucky comes from a candle factory in Mayfield. When the storm struck on the evening of the 10th, about 110 people in the factory were working overtime all night because of Christmas orders. "The lights in the building flickered, I felt a gust of wind, then my ears started to swell, and then 'bang' and everything fell on us, and there were screams everywhere." Perris was trapped under the 1.5-meter ruins for at least two hours before being rescued, and she still had palpitations in an interview with NBC on the 11th. Perris was one of the 40 lucky rescuees. Behir said that if anyone were alive, "it would be a miracle." The Associated Press said rescue efforts throughout Mayfield were difficult because both fire stations and emergency centers were damaged by tornadoes.

The tornado also hit Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee. In Illinois, at least six people have been confirmed to have died in tornado-hit Amazon warehouses, and local officials do not know how many other workers are missing. Six people have been killed in Arkansas and Illinois so far, and a tornado destroyed an Arkansas nursing home, killing a 94-year-old man.

The blackout complicates rescue efforts. According to statistics, as of the evening of the 11th, more than 330,000 people were living in power outages. Fox News reported that according to the National Weather Service, the tornado-generating storm system is expected to continue to sweep southeastern Alabama, Georgia and parts of the Florida Panhandle, and parts of the central Atlantic are also at risk of severe weather "margins.".

Russian President Putin expressed "sincere condolences" to Biden on the catastrophic consequences caused by the tornado on the 12th. According to the telegram published on the Kremlin website, Putin said: "Russia is as sad as those who have lost loved ones in this disaster and hopes that the injured will recover soon and overcome the consequences of the tornado." ”

Is this an opportunity for Democrats to deal with Republicans?

Biden signed a federal disaster statement on the 11th. In his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, that afternoon, he addressed the nation. Shocked, Biden said it was tragic and "we still don't know how many lives were lost or the extent of the damage," AFP reported, and that it could be one of the worst tornado attacks in U.S. history, and the federal government will do everything in its power to help. He told reporters that he would personally go to the disaster area at the right time.

The Associated Press commented that extreme weather tested Biden's disaster-handling capabilities. As president, one of your responsibilities is to deal with the devastation caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters, as well as mass fatal shootings and even acts of terrorism. During the campaign, Biden described himself as the experienced, compassionate candidate the country needed at this moment. He is tackling the problem on several fronts and avoiding repeating the mistakes of his predecessors, who made mistakes when disaster struck because of inadequate or slow responses.

Biden placed a particular emphasis on unity in his speech, saying, "Whenever this happens, we're not Democrats or Republicans, we're all Americans." But the reality is not what Biden had hoped. After the tornado, Bethel reportedly asked the federal government for assistance, and Senator Rand Paul, Republican of the state, wrote a letter to Biden. But many were quick to compare that to his previous vote against the relief bill. In 2013, after Hurricane Sandy destroyed parts of the Northeast, including New York State, Paul voted against a bill by the federal government to fund the state's recovery. He also opposed giving relief to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and also disagreed with a bill to help Texas recover from Hurricane Harvey.

Conservative media outlet Fox News said Democratic Rep. Eric Swarwell used the tragedy to bash Rand Paul, accusing him of not caring about Americans in need. Former ESPN host Jamie Hill encouraged Democrats to use the tornado to hit Paul politically. Hill tweeted: "We know That Rand Paul is a ruthless hypocrite. If the Democrats do not take advantage of this against him and his party, they will miss the opportunity. ”

The tornado disaster has also reignited the debate about climate warming in the United States. Schowell, the writer and producer of "The David Letterman Late Night Show," blamed Paul and Republican Senator McConnell, who also represents Kentucky. He tweeted: "I'm sorry, Kentucky. If the two senators hadn't spent decades blocking legislation that would reduce warming, you probably wouldn't have suffered climate catastrophe. When asked about the link between tornadoes and climate change, Biden said on the 11th that he did not have information to summarize the causes of specific storms, "but in fact, we all know that when the climate warms, everything becomes more tense." Obviously, it has some impact on that." In response, Fox News network criticized Biden for using the tragedy to promote his own climate change ideas and agenda.

The cause of the tornado is inconclusive

The Associated Press listed the 10 "deadliest" tornado attacks in the United States since 1900 on the 12th. Of these, the tornado that swept through Indiana, Illinois and Missouri on March 18, 1925, killed 695 people. The least, a 1913 tornado in Omaha, Nebraska, killed 103 people. Laboratory data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that there are about 1,200 tornadoes that hit the United States every year, and other countries do not have so many.

During the storm, a tornado known as the "Great Tornado of Four States" hit Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky within four hours, moving more than 230 miles (about 370 kilometers), NBC said. The National Weather Service will conduct an investigation to determine if this is one or several tornadoes. If identified as a single tornado, it would be the longest path on record in the United States. The longest record is 219 miles (about 352 kilometers) from a tornado in 1925.

Victor Ganhini, a meteorology professor at northern Illinois University, told The Associated Press on the 12th that tornadoes usually lose their abilities within minutes, but this time the tornado lasted for several hours. This is part of the reason why its path is unusually long. Only if the speed is fast enough to last a long path, most of the storm's overall movement speed is more than 80 kilometers per hour.

Tornadoes seem to be increasingly clustered in recent years, and the so-called "tornado passages" in the Great Plains of the United States appear to be moving eastward, according to the New York Times. Tornado attacks usually occur in April or May, and it is highly unusual to appear in the winter. Meteorologist Dan Pidnoski said: "This is what we call a tornado burst, that is, a storm system that produces multiple tornadoes in a large geographical area."

Accuweather, a weather forecasting media, said the storm was caused by the cold front entering the central United States after several days of warm weather. Meteorologists have yet to give a definitive answer as to whether tornado eruptions are linked to climate change. The Associated Press said scientists believe this is complicated and are still trying to sort out many conflicting factors to confirm whether human-caused climate change is making tornadoes more common or violent.

Source: Global Times