I'd appreciate any help this community can give, to my community down here. You can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross, who are currently helping out the more damaged areas here.
Some of you may have already heard about this, in case you didn't, read this:
http://m.yahoo.com/w/ygo-frontpage/l...en&.tsrc=yahoo
So, Wednesday morning we had a lot of big storm warnings - most schools in our area got either a full day off because it was dangerous, or a two-hour delay. Our school, however, did not, so off we students went into the storm to get to school. About half an hour after first block started tornado sirens started going off, so they made us sit in the hallways for the rest of class; we then proceeded to go to second block, had a regular class, and then over the intercom we hear from Mr. Ward, the Fresh Prince of D-High: "Okay kids, so there are several tornadoes forming around the county, one of which is about twenty minutes away.. we will have lunch as scheduled and be dismissed at 1:30."
I guess that's how we roll at my school, there's a tornado on our doorstep so we eat lunch and watch it.
Then I spent the rest of the day with my jazz band class of about ten people, during which we and Stout chilled and joked about how we were all gonna die.
So then school let out. I went home to my dad's house, checked the weather, and saw that there were tornado warnings just about freakin everywhere. You see, my dad and I do not take crap from the weather; tornadoes and hurricanes and tropical storms don't scare us, so while my mom and two sisters were huddled in their closet, and probably everyone else in town too, we were sitting on our porch across town eating yogurt and discussing modern art.
At about 4:00 pm, Browns Ferry, the power plant Fan mentioned, shut down and the power in most of the upper half of Alabama also shut down as a result; it still hasn't been restored. Right now about a third of the population of Alabama is without electricity, according to the radio that's over a million people.
My dad and I HATE not having electricity, so we took off to go to Target because we didn't know that our entire half of the state was out and we needed food and other things (that's why we were out during the tornadoes. At this point we had no idea how severe the weather was). When we found the town silent and dark, we decided to go to the next town over, Hartselle, to find food; that was out too. So we drove to Cullman, also dead, then Gardendale, Warrior, Pelham, etc. until we ended up in Birmingham, the only city I know of in Alabama with electricity and where we currently are.
During our little trip yesterday my dad and I were practically being followed by rogue tornadoes! We'd drive up to a town, say "this looks safe.." then suddenly the guy on the radio would go "OKAY EVERYONE, NEW TORNADO SPOTTED JUST OUTSIDE -town we were in invariably-, STAY OFF THE ROAD" and it would start raining.
So, after we discovered that there was power in Birmingham, we headed back to Decatur, packed up, and came back. We're currently staying in a hotel. My town wasn't one of the worse places hit, most of the damage was done in Tuscaloosa, some parts of Birmingham, and the surrounding area. Houses are just plain GONE, over 130 people are dead in this state alone and the death toll is still ongoing. Not to mention others are trapped in their houses with no gas or electricity and some are flooded.
These are both from about 20 hours ago:
Everyone I know is scrambling to evacuate, most are going to Birmingham, Athens, Nashville, or beach houses/condos we all own in Florida. My family and I are safe, as are all my friends, but there are people out there who are dead, missing, or homeless and devastated.
Edit:
Quote:
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I have an extra house with heat, water and power where you guys could stay gratis for a while if your home is indisposed. But I warn you that it is full of junk and has not been used for quite some time.
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Aww, thank you so much but we're staying in hotels and possibly our beach house for the time being.
UPDATE:
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/20...-damage-friday
The president is coming! I COULD MEET OBAMA YOU GUIZE
School is closed until further notice.