The sirens began going off here in Birmingham around 4:45 in the afternoon last Wednesday...I must say I have struggled in the past about knowing when to take the tornado sirens seriously, but after last weeks episode, I think I'll always take it seriously! And I must say it did look quite ominous out there so we all tromped down to the basement bedroom to "hunker down!" and when I say "all of us" I mean Donna, Molly, Baby Joseph, Grace, Peyton, Lawson, Emerson and myself. I did get concerned when I couldn't get ahold of Adam, who was on his way home in the middle of it all so we sent up a quick arrow prayer of protection and safety, thanks Molz! About that time we heard the garage go up and Adam was home, but just in time, as soon as he walked in the door our electricity went out and his first words were "it looks like a war zone out there!" Trees, power lines, telephone poles, etc were laying across roads and intersections and had made the lengthy ride home even longer for him because he kept having to take detours! But thankfully he was home and we were safe!
And safe in the basement we sat for over four lovely hours...as I showed in my post from last week, we did make the most of it, with games, books and lots of memory making...but for many families in this area, their lives were ripped apart and their homes destroyed in those hours! It's so very humbling to see areas just minutes from your home that have had such horrifying things occur, it's made me so grateful for God's protection on us! Though Birmingham has some very hard hit areas, nothing is like Tuscaloosa or some of the more northern areas of the state. Adam and some of the men from our Sunday School class went to Tuscaloosa a few days ago to do cleanup there. Adam said it's phenominal the destruction you see, it's so wide spread and just sheer devistation in any direction you look. The National Guard has been brought in to ward off the looters who had begun to take things, not necessarily simply to take things for the pleasure, but more because of the panic of not having anything and not knowing how they'd replace everything! He said there were Army tanks in the streets helping to protect the areas that were worst hit. In order to go into those places you had to have a piece of paper authorizing you to be there..as you'll see from the pictures, it truly makes you speechless as you see what took place. Here are some pictures that he took with his phone.
The top left photo is a house that used to back up to a forest, as you can see there aren't many trees left and the ones that are still standing look like they've been stripped down to nothing! The top right picture is a neighborhood street, looks kind of like Iraq to me! The bottom left picture is of a house that's in a cul-de-sac and it took the brunt of many trees that the tornado just tossed upon it! Can you believe that? And in the bottom right picture you'll see a 2x8 piece of wood just pierced into the roof of the home!
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