Thank you all for your concerned tweets, comments, emails, and Facebook messages yesterday.

We are okay.

Living in Alabama, as much as I adore it otherwise, is beginning to feel like a nasty game of Tornado Roulette.

Just the mention of tornadoes has a vastly different impact on me (and most likely the rest of the state) than it did before last April. Combine that anxiety with knowing an entire day beforehand that a potentially severe tornado outbreak is coming in the middle of the night, and it becomes nearly beyond bearable.

They began talking Sunday morning about what was to come between midnight and 6 AM. We were driving back from Atlanta, and we began to dread the night.

I laid in bed for hours Sunday night, wide awake, mind racing about a dozen different things, but with an ever-present anxiety over what could happen in the coming hours.

I finally fell asleep somewhere after 1 AM.

At 3 AM, the tornado sirens began blaring. Chris’ weather radio app began beeping loudly. And the wind began howling.

Chris started watching the satellite radar on his phone. Being that I had only been asleep for two hours, I somehow stayed in that bizarre state of not-awake-but-not-asleep, even though it seemed like they had set the sirens to some sort of tortuous yet merciful continuous repeat cycle.

Chris stayed awake for two hours, eyes glued to his iPhone screen. Our weather radio app has street-level drill down capabilities, so he was able to watch in detail as the EF-3 tornado progressed through the county.

Knowing that he would wake me if we needed to run to the basement, I somehow managed to keep half-dozing.

As it came toward us, we were within two streets of being included in what is known as The Polygon, which is the area of possible tornado track. Just as Chris was ready to jump up, grab Ali and tell me to grab Noah, the tornado jogged northeast.

He went back to sleep at 5, only to be woken again at 6:30 by his phone ringing. I listened in my grogginess to murmured phone call after phone call.

The tornado had hit the street that his office is on.

The power was out, but the building was okay.

Some of the employees who live closer to the office than we do were trapped in their neighborhoods by debris and trees.

Main roads were completely inaccessible.

I listened to his end of the calls through my grogginess.

No, no, no!! Why do we have to go through this again?

This just isn’t supposed to happen in January. This isn’t supposed to happen in January!!

After the kids and I woke up, ate breakfast, and finished our morning routines, I began to look at the local news.

The imageschilled me.

Although I haven’t been able to get out to any of the damaged areas myself, my television screen has been filled with sights like this,

IMG_0634

And this.

IMG_0635

Just like last time, just a mere twenty minutes away from our house.

The stories made me bite my lip to hold back the tears.

…A father and son, yanked out of their house and deposited into the family’s swimming pool – they lived through it. The mother, severely injured but alive, was buried under debris. The sixteen year old daughter, still on her mattress, eyes closed as if still peacefully asleep, was found dead 40 feet away from their house.

The damage was not nearly as widespread as it was nine months ago, but to those hit, it was just as devastating.

So far, three are known to have lost their lives.

Over a hundred were injured.

Countless houses were lost, businesses were destroyed, and neighborhoods were ravaged.

And they are still digging through the debris.

I groaned at the thought of reliving it all over again.

But I was also thankful.

Thankful that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Thankful that so many lives were saved by the plentiful warnings ahead of time.

Thankful that Alabama knows how to handle tornadoes and that so many are already jumping into action.

So very thankful that my family, yet again, was safe.

James Spann captured my feelings best with this fabulous photo.

TrussvilleTornadoBible

Though the destruction is great, our hope is greater.


For those of you who have asked how you can help, here are a few ways:

1. Keep praying!! Your notes that you were praying for Alabama meant so much.

– Pray that if there are any more survivors in the rubble, they would be found and helped immediately.
– Pray for the families that have lost everything as they try to cope with their new reality.
– Pray for the recovery workers’ strength and safety.

2. The Christian Service Mission has done such an excellent job at providing immediate and practical help to Alabamians in need, so I set up a Causes page to allow anyone to make donations directly to them. They were the backbone of the last tornado relief efforts, and they are already stepping up to do more than their share of recovery again. Since they are locally based and do not have large amounts of overhead, supporting them goes a long way toward helping the community.

Specifically for other Alabamians wanting to help:

1. If you blog about your experience with this week’s or last April’s tornadoes and link it here, the Alabama Disaster Relief Blogging Program will donate $25 to the Christian Service Mission.

2. I’m sure there are many churches offering support and relief, but the one I know of so far is Northpark Baptist Church on Deerfoot Parkway. As of yesterday afternoon, they were in immediate need of Water, Snacks, and Plywood.

3. If you have goods to donate to the Christian Service Mission, they will be accepting them at their downtown warehouse starting tomorrow. You can also like their Facebook Page to keep up to date with their needs.

I will update this list if I hear of other opportunities.

Thank you all for your kindness and support!

20 thoughts on “Alabama’s Recurring Nightmare.

  1. I’m so sorry, Rachel. Thankful that you are ok, but so sad for your neighbors. Praying for them and for you for peace and comfort. Love and hugs.

    1. I didn’t let her watch the storm coverage. She knows there was a tornado, but I haven’t gone into any detail with her – she’s still fairly shaken up by the last one – at this point I didn’t see any reason to belabor the point with her. And also, the sirens thankfully didn’t wake her up, and we didn’t have to spend any time in the basement, so that definitely helped.

  2. I hadn’t heard anything about it until I read the paper this morning. I am so sorry. It is such a scary thing and for it to happen twice is just unthinkable.

    I live in Oklahoma, “Tornado Alley,” so while I won’t be silly enough to claim to know exactly what you are feeling, I will say that your words hit home in many, many ways.

    Sending you, your family, and all those affected, much love.

  3. So glad to hear your family is safe…thought about you when I heard about the tornado hitting and wondering if you were all OK. I cannot believe that Alabama got hit again…does Mother Nature have PMS- that the weather is doing weird things anymore??? Keep those Apps handy and keep going over any plan that you have when those sirens go off. Be safe.

  4. Rachel, I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m a fellow Alabamian, though my neck of the woods wasn’t affected a whole lot by the recent severe weather or the stuff in April. I know people that were greatly affected by the April storms. I too think that we’ve been playing severe storm/tornado roulette. It makes me tired to think about it. I often pray that we get a good long break from all this mess. My heart hurts for those affected by all this.

  5. I’m glad your family is safe. I know it’s not really the way things work, but I hope that someone/thing will realise that Alabama’s had about enough. Sending good thoughts.

  6. I thought of you and your family as soon as I heard about this on the news. The tornado hit very close to where my Brother in laws family lives but they were not hit by it either. Although his brother was unable to get to work because of debris. I continue to pray for all those affected by the storms both the last ones and this one.

  7. Oh my goodness, I totally missed this! I had no idea you guys were having more tornados. That sounds so so scary. So glad you guys are okay. Heartbreaking to read about those who are not. Sending prayers your way.

  8. I thought of your family immediately as soon as I heard the news. I am so relieved you are alright, but my heart aches for those who are not. My prayers are added to those of so many others.

  9. I haven’t been reading long enough to have realized that you were in Alabama. How scary! Yes, your neighbors are in my thoughts my prayers. I’m glad that you and your family were safe.

  10. I haven’t been able to really write or think about it too much. It is too near to me right now. It was so very close to my sister and my parents. They are members at Northpark and it has really affected them as many of their friends lost their homes and some are in the hospital. My mom has been working at the shelter at Northpark since the storm came through so I haven’t been able to really talk with her about it a lot. Mark and Jill work right off of Centerpoint Parkway and it is hard looking at the pictures. That is were I grew up.

  11. I haven’t been able to really write or think about it too much. It is too near to me right now. It was so very close to my sister and my parents. They are members at Northpark and it has really affected them as many of their friends lost their homes and some are in the hospital. My mom has been working at the shelter at Northpark since the storm came through so I haven’t been able to really talk with her about it a lot. Mark and Jill work right off of Centerpoint Parkway and it is hard looking at the pictures. That is where I grew up.

  12. Wow! So scary. I think I would take up residence in the basement and refuse to come out. There’s been nothing in the news here (that I’ve seen), so this post was a complete shock. So thankful we don’t have too many tornadoes here.

    My heart goes out to you and your community. We’re praying for you.

Leave a Reply to Cheri Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *