In my thoughts and prayers .....

[lilbopeep]

I have been watching the weather and all the destruction and deaths in Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama. Everyone in the path of this terrible storm are in my thoughts and prayers.

[QSis]

Same here, Peep.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed until my Alabama friends check in with me. Two of them live in Tuscaloosa, which got hit really hard. I only have email for them, no phone number.

Lee

[Mama]

11 deaths have been confirmed here in Georgia. The whole town of Ringold has been shut down. Dozens of people are missing. I've never seen anything like it. There were tornadoes popping up everywhere and it went on for hours and hours. It was a scary night.

My heart goes out to all of those affected by the storms. We were spared but some of the folks around us weren't so lucky. I hope and pray that we never have a night like that again.

Alabama was hit particularly hard. I've not seen any pictures from the Huntsville area where Mary and Keltin are but the pictures I've seen from the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham/Cullman area were just heart breaking.

[Adillo303]

It is very sad when something like this happens. I am keeping those in the stricken areas in my thoughts and prayers.

[lilbopeep]

I'm so glad you were spared that Mama. We heard from Mary and she is ok now I am hoping Keltin checks in soon.

[SilverSage]

Glad that we heard from Mary and Mama. Now where's Chris?

It looks like there's a lot more to come over the next day or two. The system is still moving east. It's supposed to go all the way to the I-95 corridor. Everyone be safe.

[Adillo303]

Due to the grave nature of the storms, I am moving this to the Seriously Speaking forum, I hope no one minds. As day dawns more and more victims are found.

[JackieBlue]

Thoughts and prayers sent.

[lilbopeep]

Tornadoes Cut Path of Destruction (http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/Tornado-cuts-path-of-destruction_2011-04-27)

by weather.com





http://s.imwx.com/img/images/news/april/morrowcam287x187.jpgShot of massive tornado in Birmingham, Ala., from where The Weather Channel's Jeff Morrow was reporting
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http://s.imwx.com/img/images/news/templates/1x1a.jpg
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The death toll from severe storms that punished five Southern U.S. states has jumped to 249.

Alabama officials confirmed 162 deaths. Mississippi officials reported 32 dead in that state and Tennessee raised its report to 33.

Another 14 have been killed in Georgia and 8 in Virginia.

Map: Outbreak tornado reports (http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/tornado-outbreak-april-27_2011-04-27)


One of the hardest-hit areas Wednesday was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. The city's police and other emergency services were devastated, the mayor said, and at least 15 people were killed and about 100 were in a single hospital.

A massive tornado, caught on video by a news camera on a tower, barreled through the city late Wednesday afternoon, leveling it.

By nightfall, the city was dark. Roads were impassable. Signs were blown down in front of restaurants, businesses were unrecognizable and sirens wailed off and on. Debris littered the streets and sidewalks.

"I don't think the damage we're seeing is close to the worst, even," The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore said in Tuscaloosa Thursday. "This is an awful situation. There is just so much debris. Thousands of buildings are just completely demolished."

At Stephanie's Flowers, owner Bronson Englebert used the headlights from two delivery vans to see what valuables he could remove. He had closed early, which was a good thing. The storm blew out the front of his store, pulled down the ceiling and shattered the windows, leaving only the curtains flapping in the breeze.

"It even blew out the back wall, and I've got bricks on top of two delivery vans now," Englebert said.

A group of students stopped to help Englebert, carrying out items like computers and printers and putting them in his van. "They've been awfully good to me so far," Englebert said.

The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out. The governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia issued emergency declarations for parts of their states.

President Barack Obama said he had spoken with Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and approved his request for emergency federal assistance, including search and rescue assets. About 1,400 National Guard soldiers were being deployed around the state.

"Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation, and we commend the heroic efforts of those who have been working tirelessly to respond to this disaster," Obama said in a statement.

In northwest Georgia, Sheriff Phil Summers said search-and-rescue crews were combing through rubble for people still missing in Ringgold. A suspected tornado struck near Interstate 75 late Wednesday, then hit the
city's downtown and smashed a residential neighborhood. At least seven people are reported dead in Catoosa County, while dozens more were injured.

The sheriff said rescue crews are focusing on searching damaged fast-food restaurants and motels near the interstate.

Around Tuscaloosa, traffic was snarled by downed trees and power lines, and some drivers abandoned their cars in medians.

"What we faced today was massive damage on a scale we have not seen in Tuscaloosa in quite some time," Mayor Walter Maddox said.

The University of Alabama cancelled classes through Friday. University officials said there didn't appear to be significant damage on campus, and dozens of students and locals were staying at a 125-bed shelter in the campus recreation center.

Volunteers and staff were providing food and water to people like 29-year-old civil engineering graduate student Kenyona Pierce. "I really don't know if I have a home to go to," she said.

Storms also struck Birmingham, felling numerous trees that impeded emergency responders and those trying to leave hard-hit areas. Surrounding Jefferson County reported 11 deaths; another hard-hit area was Walker County in the far northwest part of the state with at least eight deaths. The rest of the deaths were scattered around northern Alabama.

In the Birmingham suburb of Pleasant Grove, resident Jack Otwell told The Weather Channel's Jeff Morrow that he and his wife "got in the far corner" of the basement as the tornado approached. "You could hear it coming. It was real loud -- like a roaring. We could hear the house coming apart.

"We sat there, prayed and cried. And then it got real quiet."

Pleasant Grove resident Jerry Stewart said he and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their front porch. The 63-year-old retired firefighter said he pulled out the bodies of two neighbors whose home was ripped off its foundation.

The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant about 30 miles west of Huntsville lost offsite power. The Tennessee Valley Authority-owned plant had to use seven diesel generators to power the plant's three units. The safety systems operated as needed and the emergency event was classified as the lowest of four levels, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

In Huntsville, meteorologists found themselves in the path of severe storms and had to take shelter in a reinforced steel room, turning over monitoring duties to a sister office in Jackson, Miss. Meteorologists saw multiple wall clouds, which sometimes spawn tornadoes, and decided to take cover, but the building wasn't damaged.

"We have to take shelter just like the rest of the people," said meteorologist Chelly Amin, who wasn't at the office at the time but spoke with colleagues about the situation.

In Kemper County, Miss., in the east-central part of the state, sisters Florrie Green and Maxine McDonald, and their sister-in-law Johnnie Green, all died in a mobile home that was destroyed by a storm.

Johnnie Green's daughter-in-law said Florrie Green and McDonald owned mobile homes side-by-side, and Johnnie Green lived nearby. Johnnie Green was at one of the woman's homes at the time the storm hit.

"It's hard. It's been very difficult," Mary Green said. "They were thrown into those pines over there," she said, pointing to a wooded area. "They had to go look for their bodies."

In a neighborhood south of Birmingham, Austin Ransdell and a friend had to hike out after the house where he was living was crushed by four trees. No one was hurt.

As he walked away from the wreckage, trees and power lines crisscrossed residential streets, and police cars and utility trucks blocked a main highway.

"The house was destroyed. We couldn't stay in it. Water pipes broke; it was flooding the basement," he said. "We had people coming in telling us another storm was coming in about four or five hours, so we just packed up."

Not far away, Craig Branch was stunned by the damage.

"Every street to get into our general subdivision was blocked off. Power lines are down; trees are all over the road. I've never seen anything like that before," he said.

In eastern Tennessee, a woman was killed by falling trees in her trailer in Chattanooga. Just outside the city in Tiftonia, what appeared to be a tornado also struck at the base of the tourist peak Lookout Mountain.

Tops were snapped off trees and insulation and metal roof panels littered the ground. Police officers walked down the street, spray-painting symbols on houses they had checked for people who might be inside.

Mary Ann Bowman, 42, stood watching from her driveway as huge tractors moved downed trees in the street. She had rushed home from work to find windows shattered at her house, and her grandmother's house next door shredded. The 91-year-old woman wasn't home at the time.

"When I pulled up I just started crying," Bowman said.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/Tornado-cuts-path-of-destruction_2011-04-27

[lilbopeep]

The rain just started here. The sky is a sick greenish color like a couple day old bruise.

CORRECTION POURING LIKE A CRAZY!!

[Mama]

OH PEEPERS! Please stay glued to your local weather radar. Do you have tornado sirens there?

[lilbopeep]

OH PEEPERS! Please stay glued to your local weather radar. Do you have tornado sirens there?
Thank you Mama. No sirens we don't usually get tornados here. We DO get bad flooding, wind damage because we are near an airpot so no tall building as wind breaks so it just plows through, and we lose power often. Stinks because 4 or 5 blocks in any direction will have power but NOT us. LOL Isn't that the way it always works?

[lilbopeep]

I have the weather channel on and the zipper on the bottom of the screeen is tracking the storm and predicted locations and times. It seems to be moving quickly. The thunder just started.

[Mama]

Please have a plan in place anyway Peepers...this storm system is NOT the usual storm system.

[lilbopeep]

Please have a plan in place anyway Peepers...this storm system is NOT the usual storm system.
I will get in my car and drive if I have to. I have no family close or friends that are not in my neighborhood (my frinds are my neighbors and we are all in the same postion) to stay with. We haven't gotten any calls from either school saying that they have been set up as shelters so we aren't in dire straights yet. My older girl is at school so we would have gotten a call if they closed early. She takes the bus home and I am stuck in whether or not I should pick her up or let her take the bus and walk the 2 blocks home from the bus stop. On one hand a bus gets knocked around more than a car due to the large mass and wind resistance. On the other hand should I risk driving my car and take the chance of accident. Smaller cars get batted around also and aren't very big so get more damage than a large bus. I am very stressed making this decision.

[JackieBlue]

I think Andy's area was getting the worst of it (Passaic county?). Hope he's ok. We just have lots of rain, wind and dark skies.

[lilbopeep]

I hope Andy and Keltin check in soon.

I am in Bergen it seems to have eased up a bit and it is a little lighter sky now. I am hoping this is it. Maybe the flooding will recede a bit and my girl won't have to swim home.

[JackieBlue]

I hope Andy and Keltin check in soon.

I am in Bergen it seems to have eased up a bit and it is a little lighter sky now. I am hoping this is it. Maybe the flooding will recede a bit and my girl won't have to swim home.

Keltin is up that way too? Yes, hope they are both safe as well.

[lilbopeep]

Keltin is up that way too? Yes, hope they are both safe as well.
No Keltin is in Alabama. Mary says hes in the area that got hit pretty bad. She hasn't heard from him.

[JackieBlue]

No Keltin is in Alabama. Mary says hes in the area that got hit pretty bad. She hasn't heard from him.

Oh wow...I hope he's ok.

[lilbopeep]

Storm moved through pretty quick still some rain but on and off heavy. Just got call from girl - says she is staying late to take a test she missed when she stayed home the other day. So I will be picking her up. I need to put on waders to get to the car!!

[mhend]

Thank you everbody for keeping our community in your thoughts. Power is still out and is likely to stay that way for a week or so. We are in Tennessee at the moment. We came to buy gasoline and supplies because Huntsville is pretty much shut down. On the way up here we drove through the area of town that Chris and his family are from. There was some damage but it didn't look severe. I think they will be ok and am praying that is the case. It may be awhile before he can check in because internet service is spotty at best and the power is out across the entire tenn. Valley.

[Mama]

Thank you for keeping us updated Mary. Did you ever get in touch with the rest of your family? Do you have a power generator?

[Adillo303]

As Peep said, it went through my part of NJ pretty fast. I was in a big building in NYC all day and missed most of it.

[lilbopeep]

Thank you for checking in again Mary and letting us know about Chris. Stay safe and BBQ the freezer food!! :hotdog:

[JackieBlue]

As Peep said, it went through my part of NJ pretty fast. I was in a big building in NYC all day and missed most of it.

I thought maybe you fired yourself and you were home.:yankchain:


Glad everyone is ok.

[lilbopeep]

I thought maybe you fired yourself and you were home.:yankchain:


Glad everyone is ok.
:bounce::corny:

Good one!!

[Mama]

I thought maybe you fired yourself and you were home.:yankchain:


:yum: :yum: :yum:

[Adillo303]

Well, I did give myself a reprimand today just for the heck of it.

[lilbopeep]

Well, I did give myself a reprimand today just for the heck of it.
Ok what did you do wrong? Your boss is a pest!!

[Adillo303]

He said that I could have worked faster and maybe got another hour of billing in. He IS a pest, he's always on my back.

[GotGarlic]

My dad called today and told me that my aunt and uncle in Smithville, Miss., have lost 70% of their house, but they're okay - they were in the basement. I talked to my cousin - she and her siblings are going to find out what kind of help they need and we'll go from there.

[lilbopeep]

My dad called today and told me that my aunt and uncle in Smithville, Miss., have lost 70% of their house, but they're okay - they were in the basement. I talked to my cousin - she and her siblings are going to find out what kind of help they need and we'll go from there.
So sorry but I am glad THEY are ok. I will add them to my prayers.

[Mama]

Sorry to hear that GG but at least all they lost were material things. That's wonderful that all of you are there for them...I'm sure it means a lot.

[JackieBlue]

My dad called today and told me that my aunt and uncle in Smithville, Miss., have lost 70% of their house, but they're okay - they were in the basement. I talked to my cousin - she and her siblings are going to find out what kind of help they need and we'll go from there.

So sorry to hear that. But thank God they are ok.

[Adillo303]

Has anyone heard anything from Keltin?

[Mama]

Thank you everbody for keeping our community in your thoughts. Power is still out and is likely to stay that way for a week or so. We are in Tennessee at the moment. We came to buy gasoline and supplies because Huntsville is pretty much shut down. On the way up here we drove through the area of town that Chris and his family are from. There was some damage but it didn't look severe. I think they will be ok and am praying that is the case. It may be awhile before he can check in because internet service is spotty at best and the power is out across the entire tenn. Valley.

He hasn't checked in yet but Mary drove through his area.

[MexicoKaren]

Hi friends, Here I am in Oregon, checking in to see how everyone is doing. Very scary, isn't it? Mary, I'm so glad you checked in. Those in the path - stay safe. Wish we would hear from Chris/Keltin.

[Leni]

My mothers side of the family lived in the Kansas City area. I remember going through a community hit by a tornado. So sad that they are still finding bodies.

[lilbopeep]

Hi friends, Here I am in Oregon, checking in to see how everyone is doing. Very scary, isn't it? Mary, I'm so glad you checked in. Those in the path - stay safe. Wish we would hear from Chris/Keltin.
Nice to see you Karen. Glad you had a safe trip to. Enjoy your vaction.

[mhend]

I'm sorry to hear that GG. They are finding Wrangler Jeans in our county from the factory in Smithville. Still no word from Chris. Some parts of his area were hit extremely hard. I don't know where he lives exactly, just in general. Some areas are ok. So keep them in your thoughts until we know for sure. We used to live in that part of the county as well and places we used to go to are simply gone. The piggly wiggly is no longer there. Entire towns are gone. We still have no power so we just arrived in birmingham at the in laws to shower and wash some clothes. We are under a dusk to dawn curfew to prevent looting. Please continue to keep our community in your thoughts and prayers.

[mhend]

And I was finally able to reach my family late thursm evening. Thanks for asking mama. They are all fine.

[lilbopeep]

GLAD TO HEAR from you and that you are safe. I will keep you and yours in my thoughts and prayers as I have Chris also.