TreasureDigger
Active member
Alabama was hit pretty hard with tornadoes last night. At my house, we had a lot of limbs all over the yard, trees down around the community, power outages and some folks had minor damage to their roofs, etc. However, about 25 miles from me, up on Sand mountain, in Albertville, Al., there was A LOT of damage. A large portion of downtown Albertville and nearby suburbs was heavily damaged or completely demolished. I have several cousins who live a very short distance from there and they have some damage, but nothing compared to the damage that others have. I have a VERY dear friend, Kellie Miller (a math teacher friend of mine) who lives only a few blocks from the area that received the heaviest damage but they made it through the storms just fine and have only trash, limbs and other debris to clean up. Albertville High School, as well as the middle and elementary schools, received heavy damage and it is up in the air at this time as to whether or not the HS will be able to finish out the school year due to such a large student body and lack of facilities to put them in. I know some of the people who are suffering & dealing with this. Wanted to ask y'all to pray for them. Also, about 2 miles from my house (almost at Judge Roy Moore's driveway - the Ten Commandments guy who is running for governor... again) there was a tree blown down across the road (a very curvy mountain road). Two Mexican men were on this road during one of the storms and drove around that curve and ran right into that downed tree. it killed the passenger. The driver got out and started running - we assume because he was probably an illegal (we have A LOT of those around here working in the tomato fields). I'm sure the passenger's family could use prayer also. There were other areas in Alabama that were hit hard and have a lot of damage and I'm sure ALL of them would appreciate your prayers.
It was a VERY hard night for me. I was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on the yearly science/school trip for 5 days. Last night I/we were reading all of the weather related watches & warnings & updates on our phones, for hours and hours on end. Knowing that my son and I were waaaay up there while Julie, Tim, our animal babies, home and other family members were HERE, was a MISERABLE thing to endure. Around midnight I was on the phone with a very nervous Julie. She was out in our garage and I could hear the wind howling, wind chimes going crazy, and the tornado siren blaring (the siren is a little less than a mile from my house). She went back inside and I could hear the weather man on the TV saying that there was "rotation" over my community and that this particular storm had just produced some damage in my parent's and aunt's community (about 5 miles away). I was fit to be tied! Of course I was not the only one! There were 109 other people on that trip that were having to deal with the same (or similar) situations and emotions. We had a wonderful trip but we were sooooo glad when the night was over and we made it back home this afternoon. Tornadoes in Alabama is something we have to deal with waaaay too often. It's hard enough when you're home and can account for everyone and help protect life and property, but it is unimaginable when you are about 2 1/2 - 3 hours away and don't know what is going on... other than a lot of damage! There were a few storms before this particular one, and a few after this one... I was so glad when it all ended!
MY biggest problem was an emotional stress issue last night! lol I knew earlier in the week before we even went on the trip that they were predicting some rough weather for us. That is always a concern, yet we are so used to it that you kind of don't think too much about it. By the time we left school at 3am Wednesday morning a lot of the radio & TV stations were talking about that it was beginning to look worse. Some of us even talked about it at the school that morning while waiting to leave. I think we ALL had it in the back of our minds for those few days. First thing I did was call Tim yesterday morning to check on things and it was already storming and continued to storm, off and on, all day and all evening. The main storms that produced all the damage really came through last night (for THIS area, anyway). Everyone on the trip was very edgy all day yesterday but we went on and did our usual things, went to the dinner show and shopped downtown, but I don't think we were really able to COMPLETELY kick back and enjoy it for thinking about what might be happening - or could happen - back here at home. Julie had to work 3-11 last night. Some friends and I were sitting in Calhoun's (downtown Gatlinburg), having desserts (strawberry short cake - YUM!!!) around 11:30pm TN time/10:30pm AL time, when Julie sends me a text and tells me they are sending her home a little early to try to beat the next cluster of storms and she wanted me to call my parents and aunt and tell them to "get ready" because she had been watching TV at work and some of the ones that had caused major damage were headed right toward us. I cannot tell you how that feels!!! To know what's about to happen - or could happen, and I'm so far away and not there to give any of them orders on what to do, where to go, or to make sure things are done and taken care of. Ugh!!!!! We just all stopped and prayed right then. We hurried and finished our desserts and got back to our rooms as fast as we could (in the pouring rain and thunder) so we could do a better job of keeping in touch with our families and keeping up with the reports and warnings. THAT was NOT fun.
Thanks,
Lisa H.
It was a VERY hard night for me. I was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on the yearly science/school trip for 5 days. Last night I/we were reading all of the weather related watches & warnings & updates on our phones, for hours and hours on end. Knowing that my son and I were waaaay up there while Julie, Tim, our animal babies, home and other family members were HERE, was a MISERABLE thing to endure. Around midnight I was on the phone with a very nervous Julie. She was out in our garage and I could hear the wind howling, wind chimes going crazy, and the tornado siren blaring (the siren is a little less than a mile from my house). She went back inside and I could hear the weather man on the TV saying that there was "rotation" over my community and that this particular storm had just produced some damage in my parent's and aunt's community (about 5 miles away). I was fit to be tied! Of course I was not the only one! There were 109 other people on that trip that were having to deal with the same (or similar) situations and emotions. We had a wonderful trip but we were sooooo glad when the night was over and we made it back home this afternoon. Tornadoes in Alabama is something we have to deal with waaaay too often. It's hard enough when you're home and can account for everyone and help protect life and property, but it is unimaginable when you are about 2 1/2 - 3 hours away and don't know what is going on... other than a lot of damage! There were a few storms before this particular one, and a few after this one... I was so glad when it all ended!
MY biggest problem was an emotional stress issue last night! lol I knew earlier in the week before we even went on the trip that they were predicting some rough weather for us. That is always a concern, yet we are so used to it that you kind of don't think too much about it. By the time we left school at 3am Wednesday morning a lot of the radio & TV stations were talking about that it was beginning to look worse. Some of us even talked about it at the school that morning while waiting to leave. I think we ALL had it in the back of our minds for those few days. First thing I did was call Tim yesterday morning to check on things and it was already storming and continued to storm, off and on, all day and all evening. The main storms that produced all the damage really came through last night (for THIS area, anyway). Everyone on the trip was very edgy all day yesterday but we went on and did our usual things, went to the dinner show and shopped downtown, but I don't think we were really able to COMPLETELY kick back and enjoy it for thinking about what might be happening - or could happen - back here at home. Julie had to work 3-11 last night. Some friends and I were sitting in Calhoun's (downtown Gatlinburg), having desserts (strawberry short cake - YUM!!!) around 11:30pm TN time/10:30pm AL time, when Julie sends me a text and tells me they are sending her home a little early to try to beat the next cluster of storms and she wanted me to call my parents and aunt and tell them to "get ready" because she had been watching TV at work and some of the ones that had caused major damage were headed right toward us. I cannot tell you how that feels!!! To know what's about to happen - or could happen, and I'm so far away and not there to give any of them orders on what to do, where to go, or to make sure things are done and taken care of. Ugh!!!!! We just all stopped and prayed right then. We hurried and finished our desserts and got back to our rooms as fast as we could (in the pouring rain and thunder) so we could do a better job of keeping in touch with our families and keeping up with the reports and warnings. THAT was NOT fun.
Thanks,
Lisa H.
Ma Betty