Tornadoes of 2011

The past three days have been like a surreal dream or nightmare.  On Wednesday morning at about 4:00 a line of severe storms began to roll through our area.  We knew Wednesday was going to be stormy but we had NO idea how bad it would be.  By the time I left for work at 6:45 it had quit storming at the house and was moving off.  We did not know why we were not delayed from starting school.  At about 10:30 we received the call at school that we would be dismissed at 1:00 that afternoon.    We were flying blind at school.  The early morning storms had knocked out our internet and cable so we had no way of knowing what the weather was like.  We were finally able to  cobble together enough of a signal to watch one of the local stations and saw the next line of storms heading in.  We dismissed our students and headed home.  Throughout the day we watched and listened to the weather ( lost power at 5:30 p.m.).  All around us there were tornadoes touching down.  Reports were spotty and no one could say what was happening.  Cell phone coverage was up and down but I was in contact with most of my co-workers and finding out from them the areas of damage.  At about 10:00 on Wednesday night we finally passed out of the final tornado warning.  We had no idea what it would be like.  400,000 people without power.  Cullman, AL destroyed.  Parts of Huntsville, destroyed.  Mt. Hope, destroyed.  It was so dark and silent that night.  NONE of us had lights.  We lit some candles and opened some windows and finally fell into bed exhausted about 9:00.  On Thursday it was like a scene out of a movie.  We drove 2 hours to get gas just South of Nashville.  All around we saw homes leveled and debris scattered everywhere.  Then we had to drive and hour South to fill up our other car with gas.  Same story there.  We were lucky in that we got our power back on Thursday night.  But thousands still do not have power and they are saying it will be up to 9 more days before they are back up.  I made it to school on Friday to check on things and we worked up there for a couple of hours, helping and cleaning to make the shelter as comfortable as possible for the families who have nothing left.  Today we drove out to Michael's uncle's house.  His is the only house standing in their area.  All around it is just completely devastated.  Nothing is left standing.  There are washing machines tangled up in trees and houses standing with the entire front missing.  One of the most astounding things we saw was a house that had been torn in half.  The refrigerator was standing open in the kitchen and the stuff in the fridge was still inside.  I have never seen such utter chaos and epic loss.  People are missing.  People we know are dead.  It is just the most awful thing I have ever seen.  But through it all, we are blessed because we are alive and safe.