re: The Tuscaloosa Tornado

Remember seeing that on TV and my jaw hitting the floor. All I wanted was to call my friend in Ttwon but not dating to knowing they had much more important things to worry about than answering me.

That image and this one stick with from that day. Same tornado but in Birmingham



Blows my mind seeing the size of that thing in relation to the buildings in Birmingham. I clearly remember seeing that on TV while I was sitting in Hoover and thinking "God, there's people dying in that right now just miles from here"

You can see my apartment building in that picture. I had been up all morning trying to finish a problem set which was the exam for the final class of my major. The lights went out in my place and i heard the siren and walked outside. I saw literally that exact image with the tornado framed behind Bryant Denny and it was the first I knew of what was going on.

My brother lived one block away from where it hit on 15th (didn't know it was that close at the time but knew it was pretty close when I saw it) and I couldn't get in touch with him afterwards. We couldn't get there driving so afterwards I had to hop out and walk down a mile or so through the destruction. Luckily everyone i knew personally made it out without any major / life threatening injuries.

That area by the small lake off 15th got destroyed. People I know hid in a closet under their stairs and when it was over opened the door and the house around them was gone and they could see some of their neighbors standing inside their houses cause there was almost nothing left.