By PHILLIP RAWLS and EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama’s new governor thought his toughest job was going to be making double-digit spending cuts and deciding which state services to eliminate.
“Then on day 100 of our administration – exactly day 100 – we had this massive outbreak of tornadoes,” Gov. Robert Bentley said.
The deadly storms that pounded the South on April 27 were a quick initiation for Bentley into the massive task of disaster recovery. They were just another chapter for his colleague next door, fellow Republican and second-term Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. Barbour has overseen his state’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and is now bracing for Mississippi River floodwaters.