For those of you who have been keeping up with The Yellow House Project, you probably know Clay and Lindsey live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This is a video of one of the tornadoes that ripped through the town. I think it was an EF 4. This is hard for me to watch. If you have small children around, he {the guy filming} drops some words, and for obvious reasons, we kind of avoid that on here, so just be forewarned, but it was too real not to share.
From Lindsey:
This (one with the red chair) is what is left of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.
The others are pictures of the main road (McFarland Blvd) and 15th Street.
I think its easy for me to live in my mommy bubble, and this is sobering reminder at how fragile and short life really is. At how blessed we are to be able to live the lives that we do each day. The death toll for these southern storms is already over 300, and still rising. Who knows what the injuries are, or the numbers of those that are homeless. Jamin and I wanted to head out to Tuscaloosa, but unfortunately heard that they (the national guard) are turning people away at this time. Lots of well meaning people are flocking there. We hope to be able to help in Tuscaloosa AND locally, in the coming months with continued support for those that have lost their loved ones, have lost all that they have, and are really just suffering right now.
Our prayers go out to those suffering in this heartbreaking situation.
How blessed we all really are.
Thank you for posting this. I have family in an area of Birmingham who lost almost everything but their lives. I’m afraid this disaster is going to be overlooked by most of the national news media just like the Nashville floods. Even though most of the country will miss what a monstrous disaster this is, it is so very real to us who are living here in it.
OMGoodness! I too have family and friends in the Tuscaloosa area and am so saddened by this horrible event. I feel for those in AL. And yes, I agree with Trista, this probably will get overlooked (kinda like the damage and destruction of Hurricane Ivan). And why do these things get overlooked? Becuase the people work together to get things back together. People there help each other, and where’s the drama in that? The news has to move on to more dramatic things instead of celebrating the compassion and love of the human spirit that I know will prevail in my sweet home of AL (and the rest of the devastated areas). Thanks so much for sharing the video.
Very true, y’all. Jamin and I are both originally from Birmingham. All of that was hard to watch. And yes, it will be the coming months where the help will be needed, where people will continually need support. People will forget…just like I tend to be oblivious to Japan, even though I don’t mean to be. It’s easy to get sucked into our every day lives, live in that bubble and forget. Just wanted to encourage people to help. If anything, a sobering reminder of all we have to be thankful for!
This was truly a hard night for all of us here in Alabama. Here in Auburn, I was glued to the TV and the net getting all the info I could. When the sirens went off here, it took me hours to stop shaking and the kids were a wreck from then on; no one went to sleep that night. The tornado hit about 20 minutes north of us and caused a lot of destruction there. My husband has patients who come from Birmingham and Dadeville that he can’t find or get in touch with. We are worried about my daughters bestfriends’s grandparents who live in Huntsville and no one can get in touch with them either.
It’s hard all the way around. There have been a lot of tears and prayers here. It’s hard to get in a creative mood right now when I know somewhere, there is a mother trying to find the dishes she use to serve her family with in a pile of rubble, her child’s scrapbook photos that have been soaked with rain, or worse left… just trying to find her love ones alive.
So glad you guys & the yellow house couple are okay! I was thinking about all my Bama friends yesterday!!! Those pics are just heart wrenching. I’ll be praying for your sweet state….
Was thinking and hoping you and your family were ok….. praying for the state of Alabama.
Thank you so much for posting. I thought of all of your in Alabama and have been praying for everyone affected. That video is hauntingly amazing…I had not seen that one.
Life is preciously short and can be changed in the blink of an eye.
take care.
kelly in georgia
We used to live in Birmingham. The major tornado, the EF4 with the 80 mile path, apparently passed about a mile from our old house. We have friends and family in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Arab, the Cullman area (where we also used to live), Madison and Huntsville. This was so terrifying to wait out. Multiple friends of ours were hit, but not badly injured. At least four relatives of our godchildren were killed in northern Alabama. There was a church party Friday night – a longstanding tradition – that they went ahead with in Birmingham. We had been planning to go and we still did. At the party a lady from Birmingham showed me a piece of a prescription from Tuscaloosa (circa 1970!) she found in her yard. These were all church friends. They waited it out under mattresses, in the hall, in the basement. We were so scared for them. Lord have mercy on all of the victims.
My thoughts and prayers are extended to all those affected, this is so sad!
Debbie