One year ago today I was jolted awake at 5:43am by the enormous, powerful sound of a F-1 tornado passing directly over my house. I knew we were supposed to have tornadoes later that evening, as they had been predicted for almost a week, but had not anticipated one in the early morning hours. The walls shook, the window panes vibrated in their panels, the dogs barked and howled as their more sensitive ears sensed the pressure change and I bolted out of bed unsure of the source of the tumult. In 30 seconds, everything was back to normal, sans electricity and working cell phone towers. Although, the tornado that went over my house knocked down trees and caused 80% of my neighbors to replace their roofs this year, we got it really easy. We didn't know yet, how easy.
Less than 12 hours later, a giant near mile wide EF-4 tornado slammed into Alabama. Four years previously, the scale measuring tornadoes had changed to the Enhanced Fujita scale. Since then there had only been 2 tornadoes destructive enough to be labeled EF-5. On April 27, 2011, the southern states of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia experienced 4 separate EF-5 tornadoes on that one day alone! In addition to the EF-5's, there were 11 EF-4s. Typically a tornado touches ground for a mile or two and then lifts off the ground. On April 27 conditions were prime, and the EF-4 tornado that hit Tuscaloosa traveled over 80 miles and hit northern Birmingham as well, making it one of the longest on ground tornadoes in known history.
Magnolia Creek was spared any damage, as we are located 20 miles south and east of Birmingham. We did send most employees home early and those that remained with our clients spent much of their evening lined up with blankets and pillows in a central hallway, waiting for the watches and warnings to dissipate. We have several employees who commute from Tuscaloosa to work at Magnolia Creek, but they all thankfully survived with little to no damage.
After my early morning wake up call tornado, I felt blessed and spared and decided to spend that first weekend after the tornado in Tuscaloosa helping where I could. Several of my friends felt similarly and came along with me. We woke early (some of us still with no electricity), filled the back of my car with bottled water from Costco and drove the 45 minutes to Tuscaloosa. We had signed up to volunteer with a large church in T-town, but soon figured out that the damage was so severe and so recent, that the church had no idea what to do with us or any of the other volunteers that had come.
We began wandering the city looking for apartments and houses that my friends had lived in or spent time in while they went to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Witnessing all of the destruction first hand, we felt helpless and frusterated at the little difference our few cases of water would make. While were were walking around, I saw an elderly man struggling as he attempted to rake large sheets of shingles, splintered wood and pieces of metal in his front yard. I asked if we could help him and Bill was elated to put us right to work! In less than 5 minutes, all 4 of us had on borrowed work gloves and were piling up the debris in his front yard and had taken command of the rake!
Bill is the man in the orange shirt on the left. The woman with the hat is Jean. Jean owned the house and lived there with her brother Bill. The house was absolutely incredible and had passed down in the family. It was an older custom built home inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and was situated on a small lake. The shutters were from Cuba and many of the beams, stone work, and other facets had been imported from all over the world. Bill and Jean were lucky. Although their home was older, it was built the old fashioned way with a concrete and stone exterior and steel beams supporting it. Much of the house was untouched. Bill and Jean survived the tornado by heading down to their basement when the sirens went off, and then clinging to the stone stairs as the tornado attempted to suck them back up and outside.
This is the front of their house. You can see all of the stone work and the steel beams that connect to the house. The beams had survived the tornado, although moved a few inches from their original positions. Workers with chainsaws had been hard at work in the 3 days since the tornado cutting up all of the fallen trees. The house had been surrounded by giant oak trees. I don't think any of those survived.
This is the opposite view of the previous picture. You can see how large the tree was that used to stand in the front yard. It actually grew about 10 feet from where it was position in this picture. The tornado knocked it down, and then sucked it 10 feet towards the house as the tornado passed behind the house.
This is the view across the small lake that Bill & Jean's house sits on, about 100 feet from their back yard. Nearly all of these houses were completely destroyed.
This 8 inch wide board was driven more than 18 inches strait into the ground by the force of the tornado!
Pieces of metal were everywhere. Wrapped around anything they came in contact with as they rocketed through the air. There was even a piece driven strait through Bill & Jean's air conditioning unit.
This backyard had been literally covered in wood, metal and shingles that morning. You could hardly see any grass at all when we started. Some students at Alabama joined us as we worked and helped us to create no fewer than 4 massive piles of debris, taller than myself. You can see the view across the lake where the tornado was even more unforgiving. The different kinds of debris that we found were incredible. We found christmas cards, school assignments, and even a marriage and birth certificate floating in the lake along with a large Frigidaire!
This home was rotated on its foundation and transplanted several feet to the side of it's origin.
My friends and I pitched in where we could and left Bill and Jean that afternoon hopefully better off than when we found them! All I can say is, there was a whole lot more grass exposed than when we arrived and the piles of trash were more numerous and towering!
This one year anniversary is a good reminder to us of how lucky we are and how thankful we should be for our many blessings. Many areas of Alabama are still under construction and in need of help. If you are interested and able, you can donate to the recontruction fund here. Thanks!
