Disaster Recovery
We know that when storms hit, rural communities are often overlooked by government agencies who should be responsible for recovery.
But rural communities consistently prove they’re not willing to wait around for outside agencies to show up. Instead, we see time and time again that local communities come together to organize and mobilize the resources they do have to help their neighbors and work together to rebuild their communities.
Since Hurricane Katrina, we’ve seen a marked increase in the frequency and severity of severe storms. Alabama saw these impacts firsthand during the 2011 tornado outbreak—and numerous disasters since—that devastated many communities, yet federal agencies have consistently left rural Alabama behind.
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Recent Projects
Hometown began disaster recovery work following the Beauregard tornado in 2019, and has continued to respond to help rural Alabama communities respond to crisis as they arise.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our volunteers sewed and distributed over 200,000 cloth masks.
When storms hit again in spring of 2023, Hometown worked alongside community members and the local EMA to conduct a damage assessment in Camp Hill, Alabama following a March hailstorm that left more than 90% of homes damaged.
In the wake of the storms that hit Alabama on March 15th 2025, we are working with rural communities and local organizations across the state to create teams that are organized and equipped with the resources they need to respond to climate disasters when government and corporate agencies failed to do so.
Local Disaster Recovery Teams can create preparedness plans that fit their communities needs because they know those communities best. Our statewide base of grassroots volunteers can also be mobilized to assist communities when they need it.
Our vision is for every rural community to have a Community Protection team that develops and implements long-term, proactive solutions that create more resilient rural communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.