Any Alabamans Here: Tornado

[Angelskates]

Love and prayers to all of those affected.

[mrr50]

I participated in the clean up of Xenia, OH after the tornado in 1974. I was with the Red Cross. The blocks and blocks of destruction were so much like what I'm seeing in these pictures. This is going to be a long road to total recovery.

[redonthehead]

Does RedOnTheHead live near there?

Thanks for checking! I'm actually 1.5 to 3 hrs away from all the devistation. We had really bad storms and it was coming this way but turned and hit about 10-15 minutes away in GA. The storms were pretty awful but we only lost internet/cable service. We are very thankful that God had His hand covering us.

It's extremely extremely beyond bad. But the people in our state have stepped up and are helping out big time.

I'm scratching my head as to how this happens. Did the first floor collapse onto the basement or did the force of the winds actually yank the basement out of the ground?

Homes were literally lifted off their foundations and people were literally blown away. For every 1 good story, you hear 10 very sad ones. After it hit T-Town, it headed straight to B'ham. Destroying towns along the way. In B'ham they said that it was literally raining stuff that it had picked up in T-Town, Arab, Huntsville, Huckleberry etc. The smaller places had the whole town destroyed.

The number of children that are parentless is heartbreaking. Children's hospital in B'ham is full of kids that have not seen their parents in days and authorities have no idea if the parents are still alive. One 10 mo old's body is still unclaimed. They have no idea where they are but figure the parents are also dead.

One family lost everything in Katrina and came up here. After they were here a few months the husband/father died of a heart attack. They lost everything again.

One family decided to strap their few months old infant in her carseat in the basement. The house was lifted off and she was thrown out. They found her about a 100 yards away with a few stratches. They said the carseat saved her life.

One family's whole house was lifted away except the wall that was protecting them.

I could seriously go on and on. It's beyond horrible right now.

If you want to donate then you can text " Red Cross" to 90999 or call them at 1-800-RED CROSS. Or go to www.alredcross.org and click "donate now"

Directly you can go to http://servealabama.gov/2010/2011%20.../Response.aspx This one is thru the Governor's office.

And another link is: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/...w_you_can.html

My church is making up toilettery (sp) bags thru next Sunday and then will head up there and hand them out. Anything that can fit into a gallon size ziplock bag.

[BigB08822]

I thought the 90999 number was for the Japan relief. If I text to that number is is GUARANTEED to go to the victims in Alabama/Miss/GA etc?

[redonthehead]

That was the number we were given and were told was for Alabama. I can't guarantee it but that's what I was told it was. So maybe to be sure then either go online or call the 1-800 number.

[zippy]

I was about a mile away from the path. Couldn't see anything here but the neighbors at the top of the hill said they saw it go by. We'd already lost power from the first round in the morning and even the radio cut out, so we were really in the dark. I remember it got pitch black outside while it was in Tuscaloosa and then got curiously bright, so we all thought it was over. We were horrified to find out it wasn't when we finally got a bit of cell service back, and we're still kind of out of the loop with no tv, etc, just a phone with spotty service. I'm getting most of my info from a friend in Germany! I know some people who work in the children's ER and they have horrible stories. We all feel very lucky but also very sad and even a bit guilty that the thing veered north of us as that area is flatter, so there was nothing to slow down the tornado, and a lot of the houses are too flimsily built so they were no match for it .

[skatesindreams]

What this lady is doing is wonderful: reuniting irreplacable pictures blown hundreds of miles away, with their owners.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-makes...ry?id=13499995

[redonthehead]

Brian---here's another place to donate if you don't mind doing it thru a church. There's no red tape because it's not government though which is a good thing.

Toomer's for Tuscaloosa
DONATE: www.fivepointsbaptist.com/tornado

[mrr50]

Brian---here's another place to donate if you don't mind doing it thru a church. There's no red tape because it's not government though which is a good thing.

Toomer's for Tuscaloosa
DONATE: www.fivepointsbaptist.com/tornado

What government entity is taking donations? What governmental red tape is there to donate?

[redonthehead]

What government entity is taking donations? What governmental red tape is there to donate?

From what we're getting here, National Guards were turning donations away from towns yesterday because the Red Cross/FEMA hadn't given permission for them to enter those towns. A friend got to her hometown and they had been given no help at all from any government agency and were in the area they were turning people away from. She only got thru because she could prove her family lived there. It's happening in other areas too so they sent up the site at Five Points Baptist so that no one has to wait on any money that they need--no red tape to get it.

[mrr50]

Restricted access to a disaster area occurs in order to keep away looters and rubberneckers. But locals dealing with local disasters is probably best.

[Wiery]

I live in north Alabama near Huntsville. Approximately three EF4s and one EF5 blasted through the northern counties, devastating many small, rural communities like Phil Campbell, Rainesville, Arab, Harvest. So many large, violent tornados came through at the same time, the tv meteorologists were overwhelmed just trying to keep up.

Our house and immediate neighborhood is fine-just a few trees down. Power has been out since Wednesday, but that's no big deal really, considering how many lives were lost, houses destroyed or damaged. We're happy to be alive, and thankful our home is intact.

[redonthehead]

Restricted access to a disaster area occurs in order to keep away looters and rubberneckers. But locals dealing with local disasters is probably best.

The people that were turned away with supplies to help were in state people. Mainly a group of people from the University of Alabama and Auburn University that have joined together to get people the supplies they need. One of the trucks was an ice truck and in the town they went to and was turned away....there's nothing left to loot!

T-Town is reporting that all live children have been reunited with some part of their families. Hopefully this is true.