Oklahoma storms: Chefs deliver hot meals during recovery
- Recent storms have flattened communities in Oklahoma
- Relief efforts are under way as residents brace for more severe weather
- Mercy Chefs is cooking and delivering hot meals to impacted communities
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(NewsNation) — A group of chefs are volunteering their time to deliver hot meals to communities flattened by recent storms.
Chef Gary LeBlanc, co-founder of Mercy Chefs, said the organization has provided between 3,000 and 4,000 meals per day in the aftermath of damaging storms in Oklahoma.
“I went down in the aftermath of (Hurricane) Katrina, and I thought there was a better way to feed people in the aftermath of a disaster,” LeBlanc told NewsNation. “You can love people with all the professionalism that a chef can muster.”
LeBlanc and his team are serving up plates of “beautiful comfort food,” including tacos, chicken pot pie, smoked brisket and homemade desserts while residents work to restore order.
“Yesterday, as I rode through town handing out meals, there was not a person I met that didn’t have red, puffy eyes,” LeBlanc said. “They were just cried out yesterday, and you could tell they were still hurting. And that happens over and over and over.”
Another severe storm outbreak is possible Thursday from Washington, D.C., to Dallas, potentially bringing damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.
At least three people have died within the past 24 hours across the Southeast as residents continue to brace for severe storms.
Officials say at least 13 tornadoes touched down across Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. Tennessee was hit especially hard, with at least four tornadoes reported, two of which were in Maury County, about one hour outside Nashville.
That area also received 7 inches of rain that triggered widespread flash flooding.
NewsNation digital reporter Katie Smith contributed to this report.
