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Devastating Tornado Damage in Tuscaloosa

I was part of a team yesterday that delivered several truck loads of supplies to Hackleburg from Muscle Shoals... Words cant describe how bad it is there. Driving down Hwy 43, I was keenly looking for signs for damage. The first sign that I saw was in Spruce Pine which is roughly half way between Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. But it was not storm damage that I saw, they were already digging graves at a church. As bad as that was, the real gravity of the situation for me was when we topped the hill starting down into the Bear Creek hollow and seeing Buzzards flying everywhere over the horizon. I never thought I would see a scene like that. 6 more bodies were found yesterday - livestock hanging in trees.

One of my friends was returning from Muscle Shoals Wednesday afternoon to Hamilton and came into Hackleburg immediately after the tornado passed through. She was having to drive around bodies laying in the highway and other bloodied and injured running toward her car. She couldnt stop and help them because she had her 2 small children in the car with her screaming.

I was told by a FEMA guy that I was talking to while there that he said as bad it was right then that it would get worse over the next couple of weeks - especially if rain set in. He said all the debris will start decaying and there will likely be a strong odor emanating from the debris. Folks in Hackleburg will need assistance for months if not a year or more.

Please find some way to contribute to helping families hurting across this state. Rummage your closets for unwanted clothing anything. And above all pray.
 
JDCrimson said:
I was part of a team yesterday that delivered several truck loads of supplies to Hackleburg from Muscle Shoals... Words cant describe how bad it is there. Driving down Hwy 43, I was keenly looking for signs for damage. The first sign that I saw was in Spruce Pine which is roughly half way between Hackleburg and Phil Campbell. But it was not storm damage that I saw, they were already digging graves at a church. As bad as that was, the real gravity of the situation for me was when we topped the hill starting down into the Bear Creek hollow and seeing Buzzards flying everywhere over the horizon. I never thought I would see a scene like that. 6 more bodies were found yesterday - livestock hanging in trees.

One of my friends was returning from Muscle Shoals Wednesday afternoon to Hamilton and came into Hackleburg immediately after the tornado passed through. She was having to drive around bodies laying in the highway and other bloodied and injured running toward her car. She couldnt stop and help them because she had her 2 small children in the car with her screaming.

I was told by a FEMA guy that I was talking to while there that he said as bad it was right then that it would get worse over the next couple of weeks - especially if rain set in. He said all the debris will start decaying and there will likely be a strong odor emanating from the debris. Folks in Hackleburg will need assistance for months if not a year or more.

Please find some way to contribute to helping families hurting across this state. Rummage your closets for unwanted clothing anything. And above all pray.
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Thanks for posting that, JD. This is a marathon not a sprint. Like it has been said time and time again on this thread, the world will forget, so we have to do our part to not let this story die.
 
I agree QT. This is going to be more like a hurricane recovery than the normal tornado recovery we are used to. The fact that we had multiple large tornados on the ground for long periods of time reminds me of a costal area hit by something like Ivan did to our Gulf Coast.
 
PaulD said:
After all this, good luck on law school, from a member of the UA Law class of 1980. And, whether you are going to law school or not, come back in August and pick up your degree. You will never ever forget that day now. You and the other members of the Class of '11 have earned those degrees!
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Thanks. I am trashing my letter of continued interest and starting over. This disaster has definitely changed what I want to say. If I don't get in to Alabama, I have a spot reserved at Ole Miss, but obviously we know which is more prestigious. And my home. My dad actually graduated from UA law in 1981... Will Matthews. We keep joking that we won two national championships while he was there, so they need to admit me and maybe we'll win two more.

Thanks for the kind words.


jdatide said:
Sara, it is great news to hear you are doing well. You are a fantastic spokesperson for the BAMA spirit (by the way, "We Won the West in Death Valley" is a great video).

I know it has been mentioned previously, but each of us can donate $10 to the American Red Cross by texting REDCROSS to 90999. Heck, I already send a monthly direct deposit donation to the Red Cross (and USO) but I donated a few more times just to feel good. It worked.
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Haha thanks. Love that video too.

The Million Dollar band is accepting clothing donations at the music building (Moody) that is across the street from the baseball field, next to the conference center. We have two big trucks, so I think they are using those to deliver the items. They are accepting donations all week starting at 9 AM.
 
There are over 10,000 electrical utility workers and support on the ground in Alabama. The 4 Southern Co. and help from Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin and North and South Carolina.
 
Anyone looking to donate supplies today before this next round of storms hits? Here's two ideas. Tarps & Rubbermade Bins like these:

bin.jpg


These people have been searching their houses for all the remaining valuables & memories they can and will need something to protect them from the weather & while they're in transit to wherever it is they go next.
 
I've been in Pleasant Grove for several days, I'm from there and had many family and friends who needed help. I sincerely hated to see this kind of destruction in my beloved college home. I hope all the communities hit by this storm can recover in time. I was in Edgewater 13 years ago and witnessed what I thought was the worst destruction I would ever see, this storm makes that storm look like a summer shower. No words or pictures can do it justice. Roll Tide, We will get past this.
 
^Yes it did. I was in PG when the storm hit instead of my apt in Tuscaloosa. Large section of PG is just gone.
 
cuda.1973 said:
I hear "the grove" got hit, pretty hard. Ditto for Fultondale. Is that your assessment?
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It did. I have family and friends there who were hit, but who are all OK. First Baptist Church in PG is feeding the community. So if anyone needs some snacks or a hot meal, tell them to go by FBC.
 
The Mrs. and I went over to Tuscaloosa Saturday to help out. It is as bad as it looks in the pictures & videos. I have no doubt that the clean up process will last for many months...and the rebuilding will take years. The devastation is unbelievalbe. The house next door to where we were helping had a dumpster blown completely into it by the force of the storm. :frown:

Can someone tell me how to post a picture? I have one of the dumpster sitting in the house, but can''t figure out how to upoad it. I get an error when I try to "insert image".
 
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cuda.1973 said:
I hear "the grove" got hit, pretty hard. Ditto for Fultondale. Is that your assessment?
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A friend of mine works for Alabama power, he said he had been to most of the storm damaged areas and Pleasant Grove was the worst of them all. I can't imagine anything short of sucking the dirt down to bedrock it being any worse than what I saw. There is no reasonable explanation to the death toll being less than a thousand there, but somehow it was very low.
 
BSin80 said:
Can someone tell me how to post a picture? I have one of the dumpster sitting in the house, but can''t figure out how to upoad it. I get an error when I try to "insert image".
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You have to upload somewhere like photobucket or imageshack. Then you paste the URL for the image into the little window that pops up when you click that Image Icon up at the top of the message window.
 
Here's the best map I've come across of the aftermath. Aerial imagery isn't great, but i'm sure it was rushed. If you click on the Map contents tab you can add & remove different features of the legend so you can see the path.

ArcGIS Tuscaloosa Aerial

If you click on the legend, you'll see where the curfew zones are & where the water distribution points are.
 
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