Most of us can remember where we were when a significant moment happens in our life or in the World and I remember what I was doing when this fateful day happened in Tuscaloosa and other towns in Alabama , USA
I knew we were in a Tornado Watch and that there had been many, many tornadoes in Alabama that day so when it was getting strangely darker and darker I switched on the television only to be faced with this monster !!!
I was listening to the forecasters who said that it was going through the Football town of Tuscaloosa and heading up the road towards our home ....
The forecaster's named the road and area it was heading towards on it's path of destruction and the main road that cuts through the woods to our home was the first to be mentioned ....
Adrenaline starts to rise at an amazing speed ....the stomach knots up till you can hardly stand it ...what to do , what to do .....get the cats together ...put them in crates ....collect a torch (flash light) ....a cell phone....battery radio ....a watch or small clock.....bed pillows to put over my head ....bottle of water....keep watching the television ....clear a space to shelter in the basement ...where should be best .....what to do , what to do .... in the part that has the two concrete foundation walls that the front lawn backs up to so basically I am underground ...though with a huge house on top of me ...what to do, what to do .....work bench ...Danny's solid work bench ...clear the shelf on the bottom of it ...I can lay there and hopefully the top of the bench will protect my head from some of the falling debris ....call my boys in Guernsey ...let them know what is about to happen ...let Danny know as he is at work ....what to do , what to do
Tension...tremendous tension ...looking at the damage now on the television ...those poor people in Tuscaloosa ....what to do, what to do ......Forecaster saying ' GET IN YOUR SAFE PLACE NOW !!' ...what to do, what to do ......
I have everything I can think of nothing left to do now but pray.....pray harder than you have ever prayed ...pray deeply ....what to do, what to do
One more look outside before I go down ....have a look at the clouds ....it's nearly here .....rotation ...lots of rotation .....but the clouds just in front of the house.... seem lighter grey not black like the ones on the right down at the main road through the woods ...what to do , what to do
Wind bending the trees in half but no debris .....perhaps a little some pieces of cardboard falling in the road but I think , oh I think it's turned a little and it heading towards the East ....oh please those poor people in the woods .......have we been spared ....is our ' Little house in the woods' it's going to be fine ...have we been spared yet again .....I think we have
Rush in to find no more electric .....so no more television ...so I have to just keep a watch at the clouds above the great tall trees .....I think it's gone ....I think it's gone
I knew we were in a Tornado Watch and that there had been many, many tornadoes in Alabama that day so when it was getting strangely darker and darker I switched on the television only to be faced with this monster !!!
I was listening to the forecasters who said that it was going through the Football town of Tuscaloosa and heading up the road towards our home ....
The forecaster's named the road and area it was heading towards on it's path of destruction and the main road that cuts through the woods to our home was the first to be mentioned ....
Adrenaline starts to rise at an amazing speed ....the stomach knots up till you can hardly stand it ...what to do , what to do .....get the cats together ...put them in crates ....collect a torch (flash light) ....a cell phone....battery radio ....a watch or small clock.....bed pillows to put over my head ....bottle of water....keep watching the television ....clear a space to shelter in the basement ...where should be best .....what to do , what to do .... in the part that has the two concrete foundation walls that the front lawn backs up to so basically I am underground ...though with a huge house on top of me ...what to do, what to do .....work bench ...Danny's solid work bench ...clear the shelf on the bottom of it ...I can lay there and hopefully the top of the bench will protect my head from some of the falling debris ....call my boys in Guernsey ...let them know what is about to happen ...let Danny know as he is at work ....what to do , what to do
Tension...tremendous tension ...looking at the damage now on the television ...those poor people in Tuscaloosa ....what to do, what to do ......Forecaster saying ' GET IN YOUR SAFE PLACE NOW !!' ...what to do, what to do ......
I have everything I can think of nothing left to do now but pray.....pray harder than you have ever prayed ...pray deeply ....what to do, what to do
One more look outside before I go down ....have a look at the clouds ....it's nearly here .....rotation ...lots of rotation .....but the clouds just in front of the house.... seem lighter grey not black like the ones on the right down at the main road through the woods ...what to do , what to do
Wind bending the trees in half but no debris .....perhaps a little some pieces of cardboard falling in the road but I think , oh I think it's turned a little and it heading towards the East ....oh please those poor people in the woods .......have we been spared ....is our ' Little house in the woods' it's going to be fine ...have we been spared yet again .....I think we have
Rush in to find no more electric .....so no more television ...so I have to just keep a watch at the clouds above the great tall trees .....I think it's gone ....I think it's gone
 | Now the Adrenaline is subsiding ...and all of my thoughts now are ...thank you, thank you ....once again thank you .... Thoughts are now with the other people that are in it's path ...not knowing what to do , what to do ...helpless in the face of nature at it's worst and most powerful ....feeling so tiny in the World ... Hoping that the loss of life isn't too great ....that the loss of property can be replaced but life is precious ...we are so vulnerable ... |
Here is the storm heading towards our home ....no one really knowing where it will go what it will do, how big it will get
Here are arial views of just some of the flattened homes and business's of Tuscaloosa .....
The homes are just sticks now ...their belonging's could be found over 40 miles away ....even a road sign with 'Tuscaloosa' was found over 50 miles away in a person's garden..Debris was found in the neighboring State of Georgia
The National Weather Service determined the path length of this violent tornado to be 80.7 miles (129.9 km) with a maximum damage path width of 1.5 miles (2.4 km). The final rating of this tornado was a source of controversy, as some survey teams concluded EF5 damage, while others did not. The structures that were swept away by this tornado were either improperly anchored, lacked interior walls, or were surrounded by contextual damage not consistent with winds exceeding 200 mph (320 km/h), and as a result an EF5 rating could not be applied. Therefore, it was given a final rating of high-end EF4, with winds estimated at 190 mph (310 km/h). Early reports indicated 65 people were killed, with over 1,000 injured. However, this was revised to 64 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries
Tuscaloosa and other parts of Alabama such as Pratt City were forever changed that day ....they are rebuilding in Tuscaloosa and it looks entirely different 5 years on
This photo above ....if you follow the road going through upwards and travel along that road you would get to my 'little house in the woods'
The aftermath ...there are no words
The storm however big it is ..whatever destruction occurs ...it can never take away the love of humanity
