We have survived the tornado. Russ and I are okay, as well as everyone we know. The biggest losses I have to report are that one of my co-workers has lost her house (but saved her pets!) and Russ’ place of business is no more. It is a pile of rubble, with a few file cabinets standing up in the middle of it all, as if nothing had ever happened (or so we have heard). We will find out over the next several days whether or not his boss intends to rebuild, and if so, will Russ still have a job. We shall see.
President Obama is in town and touring the devastation even as I write this. A couple of hours ago we saw Air Force One pass over our house, about to land at the nearby airport. We have also heard on TV (now that our cable, phone and internet have been restored, just this morning), that when they brought President Obama to see the worst of the damage, they pretty much deposited him across the street from Russ’ former business. Obama and entourage traveled between a church and an elementary school, and Russ’ former business is between those two, on the same street.
If Russ and I had followed our regular routine on Wednesday, we would have been in Alberta City at 5pm, when the EF5 tornado descended, and we would no doubt be dead. Fortunately, we “made good travel plans” and were able to get home, batten down the hatches and go into the closet while the worst of it passed by us, a few miles to the east.
Many businesses we regularly frequent are gone. Our gym is gone (have to remember to cancel our memberships). Russ’ favorite donut shop, Krispy Kreme, is gone. As is CVS, Big Lots, Taco Casa, two gas stations, many homes, entire neighborhoods, and lots more stuff we don’t even know about yet, because you can’t get near the area. There are things we don’t even know about yet. My doctor’s office? Our vet? The vet’s office is probably gone, I just hope he and his staff and any animals there got out before it hit.
Obama is getting ready to leave Alabama. I’m going to go outside and see if I can get a picture of Air Force One taking off.
More later.
wow….
chrissy i’m so glad you and russ are ok !!! how scary that must have been for you, and how strange and surreal it must be now ! i cannot imagine the feeling of hiding in a closet and waiting to see if you will survive or not. needless to say, I am are very thankful that you did !!
i will be in touch again soon…its been way too long !!
love, donna
Hi Chris, as the days pass I become more upset as I realize how close we came to losing you both. I know there is no place that is completely safe, but I wish you two were somewhere that such violent weather was not such a common occurrence. I guess I’m just a worried mother hen. MOM