Back when Judy and I were first married, the Gulf War broke out (it had nothing to do with our marriage, I think). CNN was still new and all of the networks wanted to make sure that they weren’t scooped, so they each were showing around the clock coverage. Although we stayed up until 2 AM watching the reports, we weren’t any more informed than we would have been reading the paper in the morning. In fact, most of the reports presented were speculative and premature. The storylines were still playing out and needed more complete vetting and composition before it would be ready. I would have been better off sleeping.
The nature of breaking news was brought home Wednesday night when Judy’s brother Darrell called and asked if we had been following the reports of the tornado that had gone through Tuscaloosa. Judy has family (her mother and sister) and friends in the area and so we were instantly concerned. Judy tried calling her mom (Marilyn) several times but didn’t get an answer, so we were instantly concerned and turned to the news. (For those of you unwilling to read this long post, Marilyn and James her husband are fine.)
The media has changed a lot since the early 90s, and so have we. Now, instead of turning to the TV (ours isn’t even connected) we turned to the Internet. 20 years ago, we would have to rely on whatever news the major networks would provide. Because of the locale, the size of the storm, and number of tornadoes, the news was broad and didn’t give the detail that we wanted. So we ended up filtering our own news from smaller sources; one of the best was a University of Alabama sports message board. The drawback is finding those smaller sources in the first place and then filtering their content for something useful.
We got the news from Darrell round 9:00, five or 6 hours after the tornado had gone through. Because we couldn’t reach anybody in Tuscaloosa, we relied on the reports of which areas were affected. The sports board focused on landmarks important to Alabama alumni. First and foremost: the tornado went close to the stadium, but there was no damage (communal sigh of relief)! Next, Taco Casa, Krispy Kreme, and some barbecue place were completely destroyed. 15th street was a shambles. The tornado destroyed part of the mall. Most of the student housing was fine. What that meant to us was that the tornado’s path was close to Judy’s mom’s house, but we didn’t know how close. If the tornado followed 15th street, she would probably not be affected. Some reports implied that it followed 15th out of town, so we were hopeful. It was now getting past 10:00 pm.
Tuscaloosa News apparently had photographers and reporters on the scene soon after the tornado had left the area. We looked through the pictures and were amazed at the destruction from the storm. In one picture we saw a beat-up street sign and looked up the intersection on Google maps. It was south of campus, well away from Marilyn’s house. Krispy Kreme and the other businesses, however, were somewhat closer. We kept going through photos and found a few more landmarks that we couldn’t identify, then we found another damaged street sign: University Avenue. Marilyn’s house is between 15th and University. Our hearts sunk a little.
All through this, Judy continued to try to get in contact with her mother with no success. She did finally contact a friend of hers who lives in Northport, just across the river from Tuscaloosa. It was late, however, and she couldn’t do much for us. We also understood that electricity and phone were out in most of the city and many cell towers were also affected.
Finally we started calling hospitals in the area. Considering the HIPAA laws, I thought they were very cooperative, but they didn’t have any record Marilyn or James; they might not have been entered into the computer and we should call back in the morning. The police station didn’t answer the phone.
Now we were desperate for information, but there just wasn’t any more to be found, so Judy suggested that we start mapping out the places we could identify. We printed out a map from Google and started marking the places we could identify from the pictures in the Tuscaloosa news. We marked Forest Lake, Krispy Kreme, Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, and Druid City Hospital. Each place was closer to Marilyn’s house. Then we saw a sign for a Physical Therapy office and looked it up: less than half a mile from her house. Another street sign was in the same area. By that time it was 1:00 am and we were out of leads. We couldn’t reach Marilyn and there was nothing more we could do, so we went to bed.
In the morning, we did our best to get the kids off to school and I went to work. Judy was immediately on the Internet and the phone trying to contact her mother and answering questions from family and friends. Her friend, Jan called and let her know that they would go to the house and see how it was. Still no word from Marilyn.
I went to work, but spent my time searching the Internet to see if there was anything new. I finally found a video of a flyover of the area. The first time through I didn’t recognize any landmarks until Forest Lake. When it came up, I realized that Marilyn’s area would be at the beginning of the video. I went back to the beginning and noticed a plaza that should be identifiable on a map. I looked it up on Google and found the location. I continued with that until I could predict where I might see her house. I went back and forth a few times until I saw it about a minute into the video. It was grainy and pixelated, but it was definitely the location I was looking for. I took a screen shot of it and sent it to Judy.
I called Judy. She opened the email and opened the image. As you can tell, it’s not very good quality. The house is highlighted in the red box. Apparently, the tornado went almost directly over the house. Judy broke down, and I realized that she would probably need me at home. I wasn’t going to get anything done at work anyway, so I left.
It takes me about 10 minutes to drive home from work. When I walked in the front door, Judy was on the phone and crying, but not because she was sad. Jan’s husband had located the house and didn’t have much hope because of how it looked. A policeman was in the area and asked if the house was his. LeGrand told him whose it was and the officer looked them up on a database and found them. He was able to contact them and they were safe. LeGrand told Judy that they had gotten out before the storm and found safety at a shelter.
As I said at the beginning, news continues to change as it is still fresh. We didn’t get the story from Marilyn until later that day, and it didn’t match what we were initially told. Here’s the email that Judy sent out to here family:
Dear family,
I'm afraid I gave out some misinformation earlier because I was trying to fit pieces together with limited information.
Okay, so I finally got to talk with Mom for more than a minute. Evidently when Jan went to get Mom she just stayed there with her where her house had been, helping her see what was left. Here's what I understood from mom:
Mom (Grandma, Aunt Marilyn) came home Wednesday afternoon very tired. She went to sleep and the phone kept ringing and she kept lifting it up and hanging it up because she was tired. Finally she answered it and it was someone from DCH taking a survey. She hung it up and went to talk to James. As she entered the room the storm hit. James was lifted up in his chair as the house started to twist and the windows started cracking and Mom went face down on the floor and "lumber" started to cover her up. As the room twisted James fell out of the chair (which was a few feet in the air) and it fell on top of him. He said "where are you?" Mom said "get this lumber off of me".
James pulling boards off of her. Their house was gone, except for the bathroom and part of the back room. "If I'da stayed in my bedroom I'd been dead!" she told me. Their shed and carport were gone. Nearly everything around them was leveled and she could see a long ways because the buildings were down. The windows were blown out of their truck, the tires were flat and it was pinned in by fallen trees. The car was upside down.
The man across the street took mom by the arm and said "come on we gotta go" and they were taken to the basement of the Methodist church across the street. There they met some people who drove them around in their vehicle with no windows until they found a place to sleep. They were turned away from two places but the third gave them and the people driving them each a room. The power was out at all the hotels but the Hilton took them in. They were given BBQ to eat and plenty of water and juice. Also, the people who brought them gave them a loaf of bread a big package of wieners to eat on the way to the room. They were allowed to sleep there for free last night, but have to pay tonight.
James has some cuts on his head and mom has a black place on her leg but nothing is broken. Her hand is bruised up. She hasn't talked to the insurance companies yet but plans to tomorrow with Ellen (who is on her way there right now with Amy and Mathew).
Of course Mom has already made some good friends there at the Hilton. They're here from Jackson, Mississippi. They've been really helpful providing rides form Mom and James.
Hope this clears things up a bit.
The attached pictures are courtesy of my dear friend, Jan Hutchison, who sent them to me on facebook. Jan, her husband LeGrand, her son Garrett, his wife Rhada, and their friend Will Johnson were a big help to mom and James today.
