Truckers without FEMA loads should avoid areas ravaged by tornadoes

December 13, 2021

Tyson Fisher

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As Kentucky begins recovery efforts after the largest tornado event in state history, truckers need to steer clear of affected areas.

Over the weekend, a massive storm spawned 60 tornado reports. One historic tornado travelling hundreds of miles in Kentucky alone devastated portions of the state. Dozens of people in Kentucky were killed as a result of the storm. Thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Kentucky, allowing the state access to federal aid. Consequently, truckers delivering cargo for direct assistance are exempt from certain federal regulations. However, truck drivers must have government-sanctioned shipments.

Exemptions from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations apply only to certain truckers. Specifically, they affect “drivers responding to provide ‘direct assistance’ to an ‘emergency.’” Those exemptions are good in all states on a trucker’s route to the emergency, “even though those states may not be involved in the emergency or stated in the declaration of emergency.”

For more information about FMCSA emergency declarations, click here.

For the most part, shipments to federally declared disaster areas are coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. If a trucker does not already have FEMA credentials, it is too late to obtain them to provide emergency assistance in Kentucky towns hit by the tornado.

Acquiring access to FEMA loads is not a simple process. To find out how to navigate FEMA contracts, check out Land Line’s guide for truck drivers to obtain FEMA credentials.

Although donations have the potential to speed up recovery, they also can slow things down. Unexpected truck deliveries can add more chaos to an already chaotic situation. Truckers not part of official recovery efforts need to coordinate with local, state and federal officials.

Tornadoes rip through central states

On Friday, Dec. 10, at least eight states reported tornadoes during a widespread storm system.

Tornados were reported in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee, according to National Weather Service data. However, the majority of those tornadoes were concentrated in an area spanning across Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.

According to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, one tornado remained on land for at least 200 miles. The record for longest tornado path is currently held by the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. That tornado left a 219-mile path of destruction in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. With no official length announced, the latest tornado may break that record.

As of Monday afternoon, there are no major highway closures as a result of the storm.

There were 64 confirmed deaths across eight counties as of Monday morning. More than 100 people in Kentucky were still missing. Eighteen counties were reporting damages. Nearly 26,000 customers were without power in the state, according to PowerOutage.us.

President Biden’s emergency declaration affects the Kentucky counties of Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Hopkins, Marshall, Muhlenberg, Taylor and Warren. LL