To me, one of the scariest natural disasters that can hit is a tornado. With a hurricane, you have warning times of days. With tornadoes, it's warning times of minutes if you even get that. I will recount my story as quickly but as detailed as possible...
I was supposed to be in Tuscaloosa on April 27th for work. I had mentioned to numerous people I had a bad feeling about the weather that day, but everyone basically told me to suck it up, that I had to go, etc. So at 5:00 AM on Wednesday, April 27, I left my home, husband and dog behind and began driving the what should be 2 hour and 15 minute drive. All the way down Highway 36 through Hartselle, I am petrified. On the phone with Jay the whole time as I see the craziest lightening I have ever seen ahead of me and also feeling the strongest wind I have ever felt. My car kept skidding sideways from the wind. But I soldiered on. I finally hit I-65 and start heading south and I can tell something just isn't right. The wind is insane and sky looks dark dark gray and little green. I'm on the phone with Jay asking him to watch the TV for me (our local stations cover the Cullman area) and am also listening to the radio. Suddenly, my heart drops. There is the warning. The tornado is moving NE and will cross I-65 right about where I am shortly. I didn't know if I needed to pull off under an overpass or drive to an exit. When I saw a tree limb in the air in front of me spin around and come right back in my view, I knew I had to act fast. So I pulled off at exit 310 and took shelter in a McDonald's. I sat there on the phone with Jay until some gentlemen said it was past us and I had time to get to Tuscaloosa before the next round if I hurried. That was the first of two that would ravage Cullman. And so hurry I did...until I heard on the radio I-65 was blocked in both directions by multiple huge fallen trees. We had to maneuver through muddy road shoulders to get past them. But soldier on I did! Here's a picture of I-65 right after it went through...
There were about 20 of those I passed and had to go around until I got to about Jasper.
I finally get to Tuscaloosa at 9:30. 4.5 hours after I have left home. The rest of the day goes by in the blur of training mixed in with periods of tornado warnings that we mostly ignored and tornado warnings I was getting on my phone for up in Huntsville, where Jay and my in-laws and family still were. I tried my best to keep a close eye on all of that as well... It was so helpless to feel like I had to worry about two places...not just one.
At around 4:45 (I think this is the time...honestly, time meant nothing at this point), my boss came down the stairs and said something along the lines of, "Guys, this is it. It's real this time. It's coming right for us and we all need to do our best to get in the closet." FEAR. Our office in Tuscaloosa is a 100+ year-old-home a mere blocks from Bryant-Denny Stadium where they were saying it was headed right for. I remember being crammed into the closet with people I had only just met that day (we had several new employees in our Tuscaloosa office) and hearing my boss and another guy standing outside screaming, "there it is! Oh my gosh, it's huge! We're gonna take a direct hit" and yelling at some guy in the street to get inside. Cramped in that closet, all I new to do was cry out to God as loud as I could. And that's what I did. I cried out my prayers...and I can remember exactly what I was saying..."God, we know you are bigger than this. We know you are bigger than this and you can turn this. God, please change the path of it...please change the path of it...please change the path of it..." Likely 60 seconds passed, but it felt like minutes. Someone said, "it should have hit us by now...it was that close." So we all start piling out and looking around outside...lots of tree branches down, but no major damage as far as we could see down Bryant Drive. little did we know, 3 blocks away on 15th street, this is what tore through there, taking precious lives...
What can only be considered a weather monster ripped through the town that my daddy was raised in, my parents got married and conceived me in, my family still lives in, and the place I called home for 4.5 years (and still get a shiver when I see the signs telling me I'm in the Tuscaloosa city limits). 15th street, what used to be like a friendly neighborhood street to me with 15th Street Diner, Smoothie Kind, Bama Bowl & Tan, McAlister's, etc...was demolished. Wiped off the earth like someone took their arm and just cleared a table. I found this out only after finally taking to my parents in Georgia, who were seeing the news of Tuscaloosa (it was national news by that point) and relaying the information to me. I was stuck in a hotel with no power, my call rapidly dying, and Jay's and his family's cell phones dead from no power in Huntsville (an F-5 took out Browns Ferry nuclear plant, which is the host to all TVA lines, which is what Huntsville utilities uses). I was scared. I kept getting Madison County/Huntsville tornado warnings on my cell through our weather call we're signed up for and I couldn't really talk to Jay. All I could do is pray and it is by the strength of God alone and NOT ME that I made it through those 26 hours I was in Tuscaloosa.
As I drove out of Tuscaloosa via I-359 (no one was allowed down 15th street...and I knew emotionally I couldn't see it), this is just one of many pictures I have of what is left of the steel companies that used to line I-359:
I finally made it home at 3:30 on Thursday, April 28 under a gorgeous blue sky and mid 70's. God's beauty after the storm. I didn't cry 1 tear until I finally saw Jay and I just collapsed in his arms and cried. Cried for what could have been, but wasn't; cried for the people of Tuscaloosa; cried for the people of North Alabama, who suffered even more tremendous damage; cried for all the precious lives that were lost; cried for the fact that I'M a lucky one...and I don't know why when that thing was headed right for us, and changed direction at the last minute. In Huntsville, we were without power for 5 days. And it was amazing to have to rely on the simple things...just spending time with family and playing corn hole. I have some wonderful memories of those days that include cooking a thawing frozen pizza on a gas grill to eat...and heating up baked beans and creamed corn in pie plates on a grill!
Here is a map of the tornadoes that were confirmed as of April 29th in Alabama. Keep in mind, dozens more have been confirmed as touch downs since...
My final words are this: people are saying, "how could God do this to us?" God didn't DO this to us. God isn't a puppeteer up there controlling everything. He put this earth in motion and knew there would be cycles of cooler ocean air and warmer ocean air (what we're in right now - La Nina). God doesn't DO bad things to us, but God does allow these things to happen. If he didn't, how would we recognize the AMAZING spirit that lingers in each of us? The spirit to talk to and help your neighbor that you normally just wave to every morning. The spirit to help out the woman in line in front of you at a grocery store that's running on generators who doesn't have that extra $5 she needs to buy diapers for her 6-month-old. The spirit to drop what you're doing and for the weeks following, volunteer time to clear debris for people you have never seen in your life. The spirit to donate millions of dollars in basic items we forget people lost. The spirit to encourage everyone. And the spirit to let us never forget how blessed we really are...
God Bless each of you who reads this!
~E
