THE FREEMAN BLOG: The Tuscaloosa Tornado, 2011: Part 1 of 3

(I originally wanted this story to be only one post, but that will be impossible because of all of the pictures. So I am splitting this story up into three parts. Also, for the sake of accuracy, please note that this series of posts was written on September 8, 2011. I back-dated them only because I will know where to look for them in the future. As such, note that all pictures were taken in the time period between April 27th-August 20011, meaning that, in reality, many of these pictures were taken months after the “published” date of this post.)

On April 27th, 2011, Tuscaloosa and the lives of its citizens were changed forever by what has been called the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States history since 1925. Out of the sky came several tornados that literally destroyed entire cities and communities throughout the southeastern United States. Tuscaloosa was hit hard by an especially destructive EF4 storm that killed over 40 people. At the end of the day, more than 330 people were dead in the southeast; the majority of the of those deaths were from Alabama.

In this blog post, I don’t want to describe all of the details about the storm. It would take me forever, plus there are websites that do a great job of that, and I have linked to those sites below. If you are interested in the details, a simple Google search will lead you to numerous articles, reports, pictures, and videos. My intention with this blog post is simply to document our experience. We were incredibly fortunate in that the only damage to our property was a few damaged shingles and damage to our backyard fence by a fallen tree. There are so many people who lost everything and many who lost their lives or the lives of their loved ones. Even though more than four months have passed, not a day goes by that we are not reminded of the storm – by seeing the destruction, reading articles about the plans for rebuilding, or hearing stories from survivors. The storm has truly changed our lives.

The warnings for the storm started several days before the 27th, but they intensified as the day came closer. Honestly, we have become almost numb to severe weather alerts in Alabama, something that James Spann, our favorite local meteorologist at ABC 33/40, is working to change. But it was Mr. Spann who made me realize that the storm on the 27th was going to be different. That morning, before work, I heard him make a comment to the effect that the conditions for this storm were something that he had not seen in his entire 30+ year career. Something about this warning stayed with me, and I got a very ominous feeling. At work that morning, I remember discussing my feeling with my coworkers, both long-time Alabama residents, who gave me the impression that it was hard to take the warning seriously because there are always so many of them that turn out to be nothing at all. It could be because both of them have safe places in their homes and have lived through dangerous weather before (we really hadn’t). Regardless, I still couldn’t shake the ominous feeling.

The storm was expected to hit in the late afternoon, so I called Brent to see if he would ask our next-door-neighbor, Mr. Tucker, if we could seek shelter in his unfinished basement during the storm (he has offered before and we really have no good place to go in our house) after work. Mr. Tucker said of course, but that he would probably not come down there, indicating that he wasn’t too worried. At this point I felt kind of silly, but still couldn’t shake the feeling or erase James Spann’s words from my mind, so I went home from work around 3 pm and got ready to go to the basement next door, thinking that it is always much better to be safe than sorry. Brent come home shortly thereafter. By this time, the weather reports were getting more and more serious and the weathermen were adamant about finding a safe place to go. Massive tornados had already passed through several cities in Alabama, including Cullman, and there was a huge system headed straight for Tuscaloosa. I took this photo right before we left the house, right as the meteorologist was saying “Tuscaloosa: you have 20 minutes to get in your safe place.”

So, we took our radio, flashlights, pugs, and blankets over to Mr. Tucker’s basement and we felt better about the situation. The weather got bad, quickly, as we listened to the meteorologist warn about the massive storm that was coming – how he had never seen a storm like this in his life – how this storm was making all of their scales and indices register numbers that they didn’t even know existed. Soon the door flew open, and there was Mr. Tucker. He decided to join us after all. We lost connection to ABC 33/40 and found a different station. We were terrified, literally, and I held on to Brent as the wind howled and we listened to the weatherman say that the storm was on 15th street, passing the University, near the hospital, near University mall, heading towards Vance and Brookwood. I remember Brent looking at me and saying “It is headed straight towards us.” I felt relatively safe in the basement, but really, I didn’t know (and neither did the weatherman) what the storm was doing…were we really that safe anywhere from this massive storm? At the time when the tornado was bearing down on Tuscaloosa, the weatherman (who was so obviously terrified and flustered) was saying “Stay in your safe place….we will get you through this….it will take some time, but we will be here and we will get you through this.” These words gave me so much comfort at that time, that even when I think about them now, I want to cry.

And then, the wind died down and we heard that the storm hit Alberta City and Holt, which meant that it had missed our house by less than a mile. No sooner did we emerge from the basement than we got a call from Brent’s friend, whose neighborhood had been in the direct line of the storm and her house had been destroyed. She hadn’t been home at the time, but her husband had been in the basement. Luckily he was unharmed, but their stuff was laying all over the place, their home was unsecured, and dark was approaching. Brent got into his car and tried to drive out to help them, but was unable to make it there because of traffic and roadblocks that were already in place.

It was starting to get dark and we didn’t have power, so I began texting my friends to make sure everyone was alright, especially those who were working at the hospital. Fortunately, the hospital was not directly hit, but hundreds of injured people had started coming in. I found ABC 33/40 and listened to the aftermath on the radio as they tried to describe Tuscaloosa. James Spann said that the reports coming in indicated that “Tuscaloosa is leveled.” Later, Brent came home and he began pacing, shocked and flustered, trying to tell me what he had seen. He said “Everything is destroyed. It is all gone.” Shortly thereafter we heard a report on the radio begging people not to come to the emergency room unless they had severe injuries because the hospital was overwhelmed with traumas. At that time, we left to go in and see what we could do to help.

It took forever to get there. The town was pitch black, roadblocks were up, and we had to show our employee badges to the police officers numerous times to get through. When we got closer to 15th street & McFarland, it was pure chaos. It was surreal. Buildings were destroyed, just piles of rubble, trees stood at odd angles, their branches nearly stripped of leaves. People were walking in the streets, dazed and confused. It was like the end of the world – just like you see in movies.

I don’t want to talk about work on the blog in any detail at all, but we finally made it and we were able to help. Despite the circumstances, the hospital was unbelievable. It was truly a heroic effort, even though it was mass chaos. People were everywhere. Even people who were not injured had come seeking shelter. The hospital served over 1,000 people that night, and the first 12 or so hours were on a back-up up generator. Impressive, amazing. I just kept thinking that I am so fortunate to be part of a profession that can do something to help in this situation. I can’t imagine the feelings of helplessness that so many people described.

After a few hours (it was after midnight at this point), I was asked to go home and sleep so that I could come back early the next morning. On our way out, we were asked to courier a patient back to his hotel on the other side of town. He was visiting Tuscaloosa on business and had been in his car when the storm hit. Of course the car had flipped and landed on the wrong side of the highway, but he had survived with only a minor (considering) head injury. We were so grateful to be able to take him home and to listen to his story. We were so blessed to hear him gush about how fortunate he had been and how grateful he was to us for taking him back to the hotel. We dropped the patient off, then Brent dropped me off at home and went back to the hospital and worked into the very early hours of the morning.