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[darth kcorbe]

if you survived the turnadurs that is. if not or if you still don't have net accesss consider yourself exempt from the thread.


anyway, hope everyone's OK. we got reaalllllllyy lucky up here on the hill; just a few days without power. still no internet, phone, or cablewe saw a few of the big area lights bent over by the road yesterday on the way to Birmingham, and one on its side with the head knocked off. we got power back at 10 PM on the 6th(our neighborhood at least; it's still hit and miss in town apparently), and we just got net access back this morning(maybe last night), and with everything bundled it's the first we've had phones or tv as well(we did have radio -bless that battery backup- but it was all "if you need help go to ___" kinda stuff, no real news updates; we didn't even know Obama was touring until sis told us yesterday.). we were worried we'd lose our two freezers full of groceries if the power stayed off, but thankfully that would have been our biggest problem. Calhoun College has one big tree down, and a few miles farther there's a trailer park with some damage and a self-storage right next to it that's more or less demolished.

 

[OwenM]

Family, friends, and immediate family all ok here. Had some in-laws down around Tuscaloosa who lost their home...lost their neighborhood sounds like.
My parents and I were in Gatlinburg while the storms came through here, barely got any rain, and saw no indication of any damage on the drive back.
Friday I took gas and cash to a family from my church who are without power, and passed through Cordova and Pratt City, and that was the first time it really hit home for me.
I know we have affected areas nearby, and a little north in Ashville, but haven't seen them in person, yet. A neighbor who is active in the community is going to try to find individuals who need help clearing damage that I can help by myself in the mornings after work, and hopefully a larger crew that's organized to join on an off day. Some of my coworkers have been distributing water and supplies donated by our company, the friends I took gas to were helping others out around them, some of my neighbors have helped in local distributions and giving medical care, and our church is donating to the Red Cross and another organization. Nice to see people pitching in. Kind of funny-the same friend from church was telling me about three of his nearby neighbors, of three different races, who live side by side in a row, and none likes the others. Said they weren't talking much, but were working side by side, just like they live. Catastrophes bring out the worst in some people, but they bring out the best in a lot of them, too.

 

[MikeH]

I actually left Clay on Tuesday afternoon to go fishing in Tallapoosa County! (Talk about perfect timing.) Stayed at my family's old home place near Tallassee. Nearest tornado to me left a swath just a couple of hundred yards south of the Kowliga Marina on Lake Martin, about 15 miles to the northwest of me.

Stayed on the phone frequently Wednesday with wife and daughter at home in Clay. The big tornado that came through Tuscaloosa went through the Trussville area about four miles from them.

My son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren had the closest call, at Margaret near Springville. The big guy came within just a tad under a mile of their house.

We had no structural damage that I can find in any of these locations. There is still debris (shredded wood, carpet, insulation) all over my yard from points west.

I am very disappointed that I came back to town pretty sick, to find my wife sick also. My church spent Saturday accumulating donations of bottled water to take to a damaged area, and we were both too sick to participate, we both spent the entire weekend in bed. Feeling better today, and there are still plenty of opportunities to help.

I worked for Alabama Power for 32 years, and for most of these worked in our storm center during extended outages. I have never before seen multiple entire power substations blown away as in this series of storms.