'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Main Street in this old mill town looks about the same as it did the day after tornadoes killed about 250 people across Alabama a year and a half ago: Battered red bricks and broken glass litter the pavement, and the buildings still standing are rickety and roofless.
"I think FEMA needs to give their people in the field more latitude," said Ms. Brown, preservation officer for the Alabama Historical Commission. "It seems things have to keep going back up the chain."
Ms. Brown said the demolition process seems to be taking longer than usual in Cordova, but government rules don't set out a strict timetable for such decisions since needs and damage can vary so greatly from one place to another.
