Tuscaloosa City Staff Delivers Tornado Relief Supplies to Selma, Alabama

The city of Tuscaloosa showed up for Selma this week, delivering a full truckload of supplies to the area after an EF2 tornado swept through the city on January 12th.

The tornado reportedly reached peak wind speeds exceeding 130 miles per hour as it carved a 23-mile path through Dallas County, including a direct hit through downtown Selma.

The tornado damaged and destroyed buildings, uprooted trees and injured several people, but did not lead to loss of life there -- nine people died in storms across Alabama that day.

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Shortly after the storm, city employees began an internal relief drive and, last week, opened it up to the public so anyone could donate to the Selma community and have the supplies delivered directly by city staff to where they were most needed.

The drive wrapped up this week, and on Thursday, city crews delivered a truckful of donated supplies to Selma.

The collected donations included toiletries, nonperishable food, bottled water, diapers, clean-up supplies and much more.

“Just as cities and towns from all over Alabama came together to support Tuscaloosa in the aftermath of the devastating April 27, 2011 tornado, the City of Tuscaloosa will support the City of Selma on their road to recovery,” Mayor Walt Maddox said when the drive was organized. “This donation drive will help to fulfill immediate needs for the people who lost so much in the storm, and we’re here to continue to assist the leaders of Selma as they begin to rebuild.”