April 27, 2011

I wrote this post shortly after April 27th, but have not had the nerve to post it until now.  It was difficult to write, but also therapeutic in a way. I have a "day after" post that I need to piece together, but I thought in honor of the anniversary, it was the perfect time to share.  Note, this has not been edited as I had a difficult time writing it, so please excuse any errors you might find.  

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We had been told several days in advance that it would be a bad weather day. They kept comparing it to 1974 and predicting a possible "historic weather day". I had some relatives that died in the 1974 tornados and my grandmother had a commemorative book that had pictures of the devastation. I remember looking at that book numerous times and hearing the stories from "that day in '74", so I understood the reference. For someone who is terrified of storms (I blame it on that book), this made me sick to my stomach. So much so that I told my little brother (and my mom just in case) that he needed to come home as SOON as he got home from class (He's notorious for just doing his own thing and not stressing about the weather)

Tuesday evening I stayed up late working on a final paper and ended up falling asleep on the couch. I woke up early Wednesday morning to the sounds of thunder and heavy rain. I flipped over to one of the local news stations and sure enough, the bad weather was starting. Not too long after, we were put under a tornado warning and I went over to my brother's apartment just to make sure he was up in case we needed to take cover. Thankfully the storm went north of us and all was fine. Josh went back to sleep and since I was already a nervous wreck and had no chance of going back to sleep, I went back to my apartment and tried to work on my paper.

Josh went to class as normal. I was glued to the television and iPad as the storms began moving into North Alabama. Since our news stations cover from Cullman down, I had a difficult time finding out exactly what was going on at home. Every time I heard that a storm was heading their way, I called them just to make sure everything was ok. Did I mention I was trying to finish my paper during this time? Emphasis on the trying because I was not getting very far...

At one point, they flashed to a skycam image of the tornado going through Cullman. Cullman was one of our biggest rivals in High School and pass through there every time I drive to Tuscaloosa from home. Needless to say, I know the area pretty well. I was upset as is, but when they told the track, my hometown was one of the cities listed. I felt so helpless watching that tornado tear up a town I knew so well an thinking about it heading toward my home terrified me. I, of course, panicked and called my mom and dad checking on everything. Fortunately (for us), it went below us and I was so thankful that my hometown was spared. Our weatherman kept reminding us that although we had been out of the woods all day, our turn was coming later that afternoon/evening.

I continued to work on my paper and Josh made it home from class. He called and asked if he could walk to Jack's next door to get something to eat (remember, I told him he wasn't allowed to go anywhere when he got home from class). I told him that was fine and he went and came back quickly as to not receive the wrath of the stressed out big sister. I got an email from my professor canceling class for that evening, and then another email from the university a little while later saying that classes were suspended. I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't have to worry about getting out in this mess, nor did I have to prepare for class. I turned my attention back to the weather just in time to see a tornado heading our way from Mississippi.

The power flickered an knocked my TiVo out which meant I couldn't watch TV until it went through its reboot (which often takes a while) so I went over to Josh's to watch it over there. His high school friend, who lives on the third floor of our apartment building, was over there too. We watched as the tornado changed course and went above us, but the weatherman said there was another really bad one coming our way.

Let me say that Tuscaloosa gets a lot of tornados...I mean a lot. As I mentioned before, I am terrified of storms, but living in Tuscaloosa and being under numerous tornado warnings over the past, almost 8 years, has made it us all a bit callous, but this time it was different. As I am writing this, I remember that sick feeling that began to wash over me. The next little bit was a blur because I'm sure my blood pressure was through the roof. I remember pacing through the house a nervous wreck hearing the weatherman saying it was headed toward campus. I remember pleading with the boys for us to go ahead and take shelter as I grabbed quilts, pillows, and blankets from Josh's hall closet. I remember the weatherman saying "This is not the usual Tuscaloosa tornado folks. You need to take shelter NOW!" and insisting the boys go to the bathroom to take shelter.

We grabbed Josh's handheld radio he had just randomly bought before going to play golf one day, his laptop, our cell phones, my iPad, turned up the TV and turned it to face the hallway (so we could lean out the bathroom and see it) and went to the bathroom. We found a random radio station on the radio because we figured it would knock the power out soon. The next thirty minutes or so was a bit of a blur. I remember the announcer saying it would hit Bryant Denny Stadium at 5:15. I remember texting Mom, Dad, and Alex telling them at 4:50 telling them we were taking cover and we loved them. I remember updating Facebook saying "Taking cover...stay safe folks!" I remember the radio announcer saying it was a mile wide and approaching downtown Tuscaloosa. I remember Josh looking out the bathroom door at the TV and turning to us and saying "This is the real deal" after seeing footage of the tornado coming into Tuscaloosa. I remember the radio announcers saying that it was tearing up downtown and they (the station was located downtown apparently) would be losing power soon and as soon as they said that, we lost power too. I remember trying to find a radio station with my trembling hands in the pitch black dark bathroom. I remember finding one and hearing the radio announcer praying over the air for Tuscaloosa saying he was pretty sure it would wipe the city out. I remember them saying it hit near Stillman and that they thought downtown was gone. I remember them saying, it should hit campus in 15 minutes and I immediately texted my parents letting them know. I remember sitting in the floor, with my knees pulled up to my chest, rocking back and forth, and crying and praying for our safety. I remember the scared look on my normally calm and strong little bother's face and me feeling so helpless because I realized there was nothing I could do about it but pray. I remember thinking about how Mother's day was a little over a week later and that my mom could possibly lose both of her children at the same time. I remember being the most terrified I have ever felt


Around 5:20 or so, the announcers started talking about it going down 20/59 heading toward Birmingham, so we knew it was over. We never heard it, so we were anxious to go see what it looked like outside. We went into Josh's den and peeked out the window and not seeing anything, we walked outside. There was not a single piece of trash in our parking lot. I walked into my apartment fully expecting the windows to be blown out, but nothing had been touched. We assumed that it completely missed us, but quickly heard that there was utter destruction just blocks away. I updated my status saying we were safe and immediately got lots of comments asking about things in Tuscaloosa. I quickly scanned FB to see who had updated and who I needed to call. My reception was spotty and could FB, but getting texts and calls out were a chore. I could, however, receive calls so I spoke to Alex who told me not to look at pictures on FB and for once I listened. He relayed messages back and forth to my parents who were also without power and completely unaware of how bad it was in Tuscaloosa (I think that was a blessing in disguise because my parents and Alex too would have been a mess). Alex didn't quite know the extent of it either, but he watched the radar just in case another storm was coming.

I quickly started texting people and attempting to call the ones I couldn't get in touch with. I was very blessed to have others doing the same with me. I cannot describe how happy I was to receive a text from a friend saying they were ok and every mini conversation ended with "Call me if you need anything. Love you!" and I truly meant it.

I was completely numb hearing stories that were circulating around the complex about my beloved city. They were saying places I had been just the day before were completely gone. Homes of friends completely destroyed. At one point, I remember going into my dark apartment and just sobbing as it all sank in. They were tears of relief that we were spared, tears of guilt because so many others weren't, tears of pain for my precious friends and adopted hometown and of course tears of joy that my friend's were ok. Words can't really describe my emotions and writing this long after the fact still brings back that odd feeling and tears to my eyes.

Alex was ready to come get us as looting had already begun, our water was possibly contaminated, and they said we could be without power for up to 3 weeks. Darkness fell and I told Alex just to stay put...that we'd be ok for the night and we'd figure everything out in the morning. We didn't know what all had been damaged and with our normally brightly lit town being completely dark, I didn't want to risk him injuring himself when we were fine.

Josh went upstairs and grilled with some of our neighbors, but I was so mentally and physically drained that I just wanted some rest. I wasn't hungry and had actually not eaten anything all day because I had been stressed about the weather. Because it was so dark, I didn't want to sleep in my room since it was in the back of my apartment, but instead opted to sleep on my couch. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wind down, so I pulled up an episode of Real Housewives of Orange County on iTunes in my iPad (yes, I watch trash TV and I desperately needed something to take my mind off everything), watched a few minutes of it, and decided I was too tired to do anything but sleep. I closed my eyes and I remember praying that I would wake up and this entire day would just be a bad dream....




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