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checking in (long)
Hey girls
We just got power back about an hour ago. We've been without since 5am Wednesday when we woke up to tornado sirens. We had awful straight line winds and there were hundreds of trees down in our area.Whole trees uprooted and smashing into houses all over the neighborhood. One house has 4 trees down and a fifth tied to another tree b/c it was about to fall on their house. But all that is nothing compared to these areas that had tornadoes later that afternoon.
We luckily were able to get a radio so we could hear coverage during the storms. I think that thing spawned off something like 130 tornados. They were huge and stayed on the ground for miles. One was headed straight for downtown Birmingham (we're about 4 or 5 miles south of that), but I think it wound up shifting a little higher north and didn't do too much damage to downtown.
We've literally been in the dark during all of this and have only been able to hear coverage on the radio for a few hours a day. I'm finally seeing pictures and video of it all and it's heart breaking. Tuscaloosa was my home for 4 years and where I met and fell in love with dh. I still have friends there and many have lost everything. I haven't seen much footage of the damage in the counties north of us, but I hear they were flattened.
There's been debri from Tuscaloosa found everywhere. Someone in our neighborhood found a pair of children's swimshorts with the tags still on them from the Big Lots in ttown.
It's just crazy to think that so many were in their safe places in brick homes and were still killed by their houses falling in on them or were literally sucked up by the storm.
My father in law nearly lost his life. He works in Tuscaloosa and lives in his RV during the week. They have a home in Bham. He drove to Sam's to take cover during the storm. After the tornado hit, Sam's made everyone in the store leave. He decided to drive on to Birmingham and got caught in another tornado in Centerville. He saw the funnel and quickly pulled over at a BP gas station. He and 5 other people huddled in a bathroom. The station took a direct hit...all that was left standing was the bathroom. The gas station and the fire station that was next door was completely wiped out. His truck was totaled. I am so thankful he's alive!
just a few heartbreaking stories...
a baby that had been in nicu for a couple of months at the local hospital in tuscaloosa was released wednesday morning and was killed in the storm that afternoon.
a hoover bus driver and his family were safe in their home. he was upstairs looking out for the storm and his family was in their basement. They kept yelling for him to come down, but before he knew it the storm hit their home. They found his body 2 miles away. The family survived.
and an old coworker and his wife died in the storm as well. he was posting on facebook prior to the storm hitting them. he was always very outspoken about his faith through facebook. one of his last posts said, 'the storm is almost here. if I don't post past this then I've either lost power or I'm with the one who holds all the power' He was crushed with debri and died the next morning. His wife was thrown from the home and also passed away. Their son is currently deployed.
I just cannot even fathom what life is like for these people. Looking at the map of the storms today I see just how close we were to being in the paths. Just a shift of a few miles and we would've had total loss and loss of life. Death toll is around 250 in Alabama with over 1000 injuries. I'm sure the death count will rise as they're able to go through all the debri.
Please pray for this area. I have no idea how everyone will rebuild. The destruction is just unbelievable.
There's tons of videos out there, but here's an aerial shot of Tuscaloosa now. I can't find one building to give me a point of reference. Just unbelievable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU6hsYk_sWI&feature=youtu.be
And here's one someone took in the mall parking lot. This was SO close to the area that was flattened. I'm really surprised they weren't sucked in. That thing was massive and so powerful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ohIVzIZLuQ
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I spent the day out window shopping. thankful to be born and so thankful that myself and all those I love were alive.
Re: checking in (long)
Wow, Lauren.
First of all, I am so thankful that you and your family are okay. I can't imagine how traumatic that must have been for your FIL but thank goodness he survived.
I am so sorry to hear about your old coworker and his wife and all of those stories are just tragic.
I pray that not too many more dead bodies are found and that things can rebuild sooner rather than later.
So glad you are ok.
I'm very glad to hear that you and all of your family are alive and ok. I know this seems overwhelming right now, but I know you Alabama people will pull through and rebuild. I've been in this situation more times than I'd like to remember. Things will get better.
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