**I wrote this around 9pm on 4/27/11 before we realized that we’d be out of power for maybe a week and needed to conserve all of the power we could — even on our computer’s so that we could charge our phones. We, of course, lost our internet and router’s when the power went out and had only very spotty service on our phones. I’ve finally gotten a way to post this, so these are my first thoughts on the storms. We didn’t even really know the magnitude at this point.
Growing up in Alabama you are used to tornado’s. I vividly remember the tornado in ’89 and everything about that day. I wore a blue striped dress with three colored hearts on it that Mom had made me. I walked home from school that day from kindergarten and had to pull up my sleeves because I was so hot. When I got home Mom, Charlie, and I piled into the tub in our bathroom in the middle of the house with the Sears Wish Book and we heard the tornado go over our house before heading on to do a great amount of damage in Huntsville.
Another instance occurred one day in college I was driving home after finals when I got a pretty frantic call saying that there was a tornado about to cross I-65 ahead of me while I was on my way home from finals. So I detoured to Jason’s apartment in Birmingham to be safe. We were so worried about a tornado coming and the fact that he lived on the top floor of his apartment building that we went downstairs and tried to introduce ourselves to his neighbors that lived below him but they weren’t home so we just rode it out and, thankfully, the tornado went around us.
Becoming a parent makes things even scarier. Today was the second day that I was by myself at home when tornado’s broke out. Last fall we had a day of tornado’s and I could see one go over the mountain next to us from the windows in our bedroom and was terrified. Knowing that you are the sole person responsible for your child in severe weather is a very sobering thought. Not only do you have to keep them under control and not panicked but you’ve got to keep yourself under control so that they don’t lose it.
Since Jason knows all about weather and is very passionate about keeping up with it I knew that today was going to be bad. But the storms were a whole lot worse from the get go and I was even more terrified because I was by myself. Last night I woke up to Jason leaving our room with the laptop open looking at the radar. He said that it was getting bad but I knew that he was on top of it so I quickly went back to sleep. Same thing with this morning before he left for work. But when the storms started around 11:30 or so this morning I was by myself and Charlotte was my responsibility.
I can’t remember ever being so scared. I knew that there was a tornado just north of where Jason and my parents were and that there were funnel clouds right on top of their locations. The weathermen were saying that we needed to be taking precautions and the look of the weather outside was horrible — the wind was blowing harder than I’ve ever seen and was so loud. So I threw our comforter and pillows into our closet and got Charlotte situated with Wonder Pets on the iPad. I pulled Luca in with me and, after turning the tv up as loud as I could so I could hear it through the walls and getting the laptop going, I closed the doors and we huddled back there waiting to get an all clear from Jason.
Thankfully it was a false alarm and the tornado went way north of us and we were fine. The storms finally slacked up and we got a break for a while. I put Charlotte down for a nap and grabbed a shower. Jason got home with a little bit of time before nap was over and immediately pulled up his radar software and the ABC 33/40 streaming site. (James Spann is, by far, the best weatherman I’ve ever had and we still turn to him when there are storms coming from the south.) We watched in horror as the Cullman tower cam caught the huge tornado (estimated initially at between 1/4 and 1/2 mile wide) as it went through downtown Cullman.
After getting Charlotte up we made the decision to head down to Mom and Dad’s. They have a basement so I felt like we’d be safer there and since they have everything for Charlotte that we do we felt like we would be me comfortable there. Not long after we arrived things picked back up and we felt like we needed to move downstairs. Their cable was out (or off and on) before the storms came through but definitely went out when the storms rolled in.
We spread out a blanket and got set up downstairs. Charlotte was set with the iPad going again. Dad was working trying to get things set up but Jason, Mom, and I were all on different computers watching streaming video online. It was actually perfectly cozy down there. We had power, we had multiple radars and internet so we knew what was going on, we had drinks and snacks — pretty much everything we needed.
Jason was still watching the 33/40 streaming coverage as well as local coverage and told Mom and I that we should pull it up to see the tornado in Tuscaloosa. At first the video didn’t look as bad as what we watched go through Cullman but that quickly changed. My stomach started to hurt as we watched the debris get picked up and were able to track it just a few blocks south of campus. But even after watching that video I couldn’t have imagined the damage that it was inflicting.
Our power went out a little while later and the weather got less severe directly where we were so we headed upstairs where we could take advantage of the subdued light. At that point we started being able to get tweets again and started hearing that our entire county was out of power because of a broken line coming from the power plant. We later heard that most of North Alabama was out of power — more than 330,000 people. (On Saturday, when I’m posting this 500,000 people are still without power in N AL and there were, at one point, a million across the state without power.) At this point we have no idea when we’ll get power back and no expectations to get it back before tomorrow at the earliest. (Again, it’s Saturday now and the expectation is that we MIGHT get power back next Tuesday, 5/3.)
We also started seeing tweets from Tuscaloosa. I was terrified earlier in the day but these images and videos just made me feel even worse. To see pictures of 15th street with nothing standing. Pictures from 15th street looking towards campus with nothing but leveled debris between it and DCH hospital. Video of the tornado going through town. Reports of storm spotters who had been pulling bodies from debris and people still trapped.
We immediately started touching base with our family in town and they, thankfully, were all safe but all said how scared they were. The community thankfully was probably spared at least some loss of life because classes were still going on (or had just been canceled) so a lot of students were probably still on campus which got spared a direct hit by a block or two. But thinking about those students in their apartment complexes just off of campus — I can’t imagine that feeling.
At this point we’ve put Charlotte to bed in a pack and play. We have windows open to try and get some air circulating and are subsisting on candles and flashlights to get some light. We all basically ran our phones down so the guys have manually opened the garage doors and are charging the phones in the cars right now. We are, blessedly, unharmed. We haven’t been to our house since the major storms but there is no major damage here.
We are shell shocked at the damage that we’ve seen second hand. My heart is broken for Tuscaloosa and the other communities hit. I’ve seen the most damage pictures from Tuscaloosa but also know that there are a lot of communities in North Alabama that were also devastatingly hit. It’s hard to understand why something like this would happen. Lives that are forever changed because of these storms today. But I do trust that my God is great and that he has a plan. I just pray that he spreads his mercy and grace to all those dealing with loss from this.
I’m guessing that Tuscaloosa will never look the same, but I know that with lots of prayers and help from others she will recover and move forward to making something better. Please join me in praying for all of those facing tragic and painful loss today after these storms. I’m sure other states were hit also, but I know that Alabama was devastated by these storms all across the state. I pray that a day like this doesn’t ever happen again.
Ashley
May 4, 2011 at 12:11 amThank you so much for posting this Jennifer! We do need lots of lots of prayers as the death toll keeps rising. I had knee surgery the morning of the storms and have been unable to physically help with the disaster relief. I have been very active on Facebook and letting not only everyone in Tuscaloosa but others in my hometown, Haleyville, know what they can do to help. One great thing that I have found is http://www.t-townneverdown.com. They are selling t-shirts and donating the proceeds to Give Tuscaloosa. Rumor is UA is going to have a “white out” at the first UA home game with this shirt being what everyone will be wearing. We are all safe. My grandmother lives just off 15th Street and had some damage but she is safe. At first we couldn’t get in touch with her so David and I loaded up right after my surgery to check on her. It took us almost 2 hours but we found her safe and sound with tons of trees down in her yard. It was by the grace of God that none fell on her house. She just had power restored yesterday and things are starting to get a little back to normal. Again, thanks for all of the prayers!