We woke up at about 15 minutes before I was supposed to get up to the sound of tornado sirens. That isn't exactly the best alarm clock. I am thankful Ben woke up because I might have slept right through them. We turned the TV on and realized that the sirens were for a storm in north Jefferson county. Since we weren't affected, we turned the TV off hoping to get a little more sleep. I saw that there was a storm in Tuscaloosa, and generally, storms in Tuscaloosa head straight toward us, but there wasn't a tornado warning out so I rolled on over. Pretty much as soon as we did, my cell phone starting going off with text messages from about 3 different people asking me if I was watching TV. Well, no I wasn't, it was 5:25ish by now and I knew I only had about 5 more minutes to sleep. If you know me, then you know I am a fanatic about my sleep. I get so ill when I don't get in bed by a certain time. (Lord help me when I do have kids! :) BUT I do need to say I have gotten A LOT better in the last few years. A LOT!!!)Anyways, we turned on the TV to see that the storm in Tuscaloosa now had a tornado warning with it and sure enough, it was heading straight toward us. So I made Ben go get the dogs out of the garage. I was thinking that if a tornado was coming I wanted all my pets together. While he was doing that I was getting dressed and finding leashes. When we heard James Spann (an amazing meteorologist in Birmingham) say that if you were in McCalla, you needed to be in your safe place now, we headed to the closet. We were able to watch TV for a few minutes until the cable went out. Luckily we had downloaded the ABC weather app on the iPad and were able to watch James Spann on that. Until the power went out. When we lost power, we couldn't use the WiFi anymore and we didn't have 3G set up on the iPad yet. I talked to my mom and told her to keep us updated because we didn't know when the storm was over. After a few minutes in the closet, with all 3 of the dogs, we couldn't take anymore. That closet was too small for all of us. I opened the door and let the dogs out and Ben went to look out the window. I have never seen lightening like in that storm and the wind was crazy!! After about 10 minutes we got the all clear for sure. It was about 6 or so by now. I knew that I had to get ready for work but we didn't have power so I waited for a few minutes. When I realized we weren't getting power back anytime soon, I took a shower and got as ready as I could for work. All I can say is thank God for gas hot water heaters, I could at least take a warm shower.
So I went to work and everyone had stories about their mornings. But one comment that was made with every story... If this mornings storms were nothing compared to this afternoons coming storms, it's going to be a crazy afternoon. The weathermen had been talking about how bad these storms were going to be for a few days. James Spann had even said that he had never seen a set up like this before. So we were worried.
School was dismissed early, so I was able to get home early. I stopped by Dollar General on the way home and got some snacks for the afternoon. I went the back way home and saw some of the damage from the mornings storms. I started getting a little concerned when huge trees had been completely uprooted. How can you get much worse than hundred year old trees being uprooted? But when I got home my fears were calmed a bit when I realized the power at our house was on.
I went in and started watching James Spann. He had been on for a while by then with the storms starting to move into the western side of the state. But nothing was heading in our direction yet. I was able to watch him for about 30 or 45 minutes when our power went out again. I tried to get the ABC Weather app working on my iphone but it wouldn't. So thinking that storms weren't around me yet, I grabbed a good book and started reading. Ben got home a few minutes later and asked if I had been listening to the weather. A major tornado had gone straight through downtown Cullman, where my parents business was. I called my mom and she had been crying. If you know my mom, you know she is an incredibly strong woman. I think I can count on one hand the times I have see her cry. To hear her describing the huge storm that had hit Cullman, I started getting really worried. I knew that this wasn't going to just another severe weather day.
I talked Ben into going to him Mom's house. We live in a slab house so we don't have a basement. I knew that the safest place in our house was our closet and that just didn't seem very safe to me, so we headed to Ben's parents house. They had a basement and were ready for us. We loaded up the dogs and went down there. Amy and Chris were there with Brody and their dogs too. On our way, I got on Facebook on my phone and someone had posted a picture of a tornado in Tuscaloosa. I had never seen anything like it. I told Ben I felt like I was in a movie. Alabama doesn't have huge tornadoes like this.
For the next few hours, we were glued to the TV. We watched the tornado destroy Tuscaloosa and move on towards our area. We watched as it moved up I-20. With each mile marker it passed, it was getting closer and closer to us. James Spann said that it was going to pretty much follow I-20. We knew that if it went any south of the interstate, it would hit our house. If it went north, it would hit Jake's. I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't figure out what I needed to do. As it got closer to Birmingham, we realized it was going a little north of the interstate. I will never forget sitting Cathy and Doug's living room floor and hearing James Spann say, "If you are in Concord, Hueytown, or Pleasant Grove, this is a tornado emergency, get in your safe place now." I knew the tornado was going right over my brother. At 5:38pm I sent Jake a text saying to get in their safe place. I was so worried about my brother and his family. I knew that being in any tornado was bad but I knew this was the worst one I had ever seen. We had seen pictures of the devastation tornadoes had left in other parts of the state, and we knew it was going to bad.
Once it was past Jake's area all I wanted to do was talk to my brother. At 6:00 I got a text say "We're good." That's all. We had no idea the extent of the damage or what "we're good" meant, but I knew if he could text me he was alive.
The rest of the night was a blur. I was never able to talk to Jake directly. My mom and Ben had talked to him. My cousin in Atlanta had talked to him. We knew the devastation in his neighborhood was bad but we still weren't sure how bad everything was. I was on the verge of tears all night. I didn't sleep much that night because all I kept thinking about was Jake and what he had been through. He was one of the first to get back into his neighborhood and saw some things that no person should ever have to see. I thank God all the time for sparing Jake and his family and their house. I'm so glad that they are safe.
I think it will be hard to find someone from Alabama that these storms didn't have a life changing effect on. I will never look at severe weather the same again. I have always said that if I wasn't teaching then I probably would be a meteorologist. I think after these storms, I know I can't handle that. I have always wanted to be a storm chaser too. But now when I look at these huge storms all I can see the huge devastation they leave behind. I can't see anything but my brother face when he was telling the story of that night for the first time, or Kate's face after seeing all the destruction for the first time, or hearing my brother repeating how blessed he is. It's really hard to put into words but it has made me much more appreciative. Yes, I can't get pregnant right now, and that sucks! But when I look around and realize how much God has blessed me with, it's hard to get upset about something I don't have right now. So many people around me would be so happy to be in my shoes right now.
Please continue to pray for all that were affected by the April 27th storms. We have also seen a lot of devastating tornadoes this week in the mid-west. Please continue to pray for people affected by those storms too! It's going to be a hard process but Alabama is a great state and we will rebuild and be stronger and better than ever.
19-21 Joseph replied, "Don't be afraid. Do I act for God? Don't you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I'll take care of you and your children." He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart. Genesis 50:20 (The Message)
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