Pray for those of Alabama.

[flycbyrd]

We were hit,as a state, hard by tornadoes yesterday. 128 confirmed dead so far. The southeast went under a warning last night but no funnel cloud actually touched down. On the other hand the North was not so lucky, the town of arab was devestated as well as tuscaloosa and birmingham. Tuscaloosa and Birmingham are homes to some of our biggest universities. Samford, uab, and of course u of a. Alabama university.was not hurt but the appt areas alot of students lived in were destroyed by a mile wide ef4 to ef5 wedge tornado. There were many other areas of the north effected as well such as cullman. We do.have members in these areas, I pray they are all safe. If your from Bama check in please. Lets pray they can recover from a tragedy. I know all to well what it feels like to be in a Tornado, I wish I could forget but march 1st 2007 I was on 3rd hall of our highschool went it was hit by an ef4, our community was destroyed but with help and prayers we recovered, I pray my brothers and sisters to the north can do the same.

[BigFoot]

My thoughts and prayers are with all that have been effected by this.

[maxman]

I haven't been watching the news as of late.
I'm sorry to hear about this.
They will be in my prayers tonight.
It seems a lot of people are these days....

[flycbyrd]

My thoughts and prayers are with all that have been effected by this.

Its really horrible, they say tuscaloosa doesnt even look the same, I know it destroyed many restraunts as well. The debri was carried 100 + miles. They were able to record the whole tornado, most watched it on tv as it hit, I saw it on youtube. I know we have 1.member.from Tuscaloosa.

[MoJoe]

I can sympathize. About a week ago the tornadoes that hit North Carolina ripped through my town and tore apart a farm that's about 1/2 mile from my home. 300 year-old trees were uprooted, the silo was shredded and the houses around the farm either had trees knocked down on top of them or they lost a roof/facade. Other parts of town were in similar shape and the cleanup is still going on. That tornado turned out to be an EF3. What I saw from Alabama could have easily been a more powerful tornado. The folks impacted will get added to the list of prayers for my neighbors.

[Spivey]

We've been praying for everyone along the storm's path. I'm from Alabama (with people in Birmingham, Decatur and Florence) and everyone seems to be alright. Thankfully.

[flycbyrd]

I can sympathize. About a week ago the tornadoes that hit North Carolina ripped through my town and tore apart a farm that's about 1/2 mile from my home. 300 year-old trees were uprooted, the silo was shredded and the houses around the farm either had trees knocked down on top of them or they lost a roof/facade. Other parts of town were in similar shape and the cleanup is still going on. That tornado turned out to be an EF3. What I saw from Alabama could have easily been a more powerful tornado. The folks impacted will get added to the list of prayers for my neighbors.

Tornado impact scale was a 12.6 yesterday afternoon. The weatherman's response, " 12.6 I didnt think it went higher than 10."

[Amer]

My wife's cousin lives in Athens, AL, right outside of Huntsville. We learned at 8:30 last night she's lost pretty much her whole house. Luckily she, her husband, and their child were not home at the time but at the grandparent's down in Madison. It appears most of their neighborhood is also destroyed. Unfortunately they were not able to get near the house until last night due to trees and flooding all over the roads, so much of that which was salvageable is just soaked.

Thoughts and prayers to everyone down there.

[flycbyrd]

My wife's cousin lives in Athens, AL, right outside of Huntsville. We learned at 8:30 last night she's lost pretty much her whole house. Luckily she, her husband, and their child were not home at the time but at the grandparent's down in Madison. It appears most of their neighborhood is also destroyed. Unfortunately they were not able to get near the house until last night due to trees and flooding all over the roads, so much of that which was salvageable is just soaked.

Thoughts and prayers to everyone down there.

Glad they are ok, sorry to hear about their house.

[the beav]

Its really horrible, they say tuscaloosa doesnt even look the same, I know it destroyed many restraunts as well. The debri was carried 100 + miles. They were able to record the whole tornado, most watched it on tv as it hit, I saw it on youtube. I know we have 1.member.from Tuscaloosa.

My relatives were sitting on their back porch between storms in North Alabama and suddenly a big piece of tin fell out of the sky into their back yard. No telling where it came from, but it was probably from a tornado that passed through about thirty miles away.

I can think of three members that are/were in Tuscaloosa so I hope they are OK. These tornadoes were unusual in that they seemed to hit towns and cities. There does seem to be a corridor of tornado activity that stretches from Meridian, MS, then follows almost exactly I-59 through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. I've seen tornadoes follow this route many times and am surprised that Tuscaloosa hasn't been hit like this before.

[BigFoot]

In May of 2003 an Ef4 hit part of Kansas City. It was about 2 miles from where we live. To see that kind of damage in person is just so hard to believe. We were lucky.....1 fatality and a few minor injuries. The death tool in AL is so high. This is still April......Tornado season usually does not even hit full stride until May. I hope it is over.

[bassmanlarry]

You all are in my thoughts and prayers.

[flycbyrd]

My relatives were sitting on their back porch between storms in North Alabama and suddenly a big piece of tin fell out of the sky into their back yard. No telling where it came from, but it was probably from a tornado that passed through about thirty miles away.

I can think of three members that are/were in Tuscaloosa so I hope they are OK. These tornadoes were unusual in that they seemed to hit towns and cities. There does seem to be a corridor of tornado activity that stretches from Meridian, MS, then follows almost exactly I-59 through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. I've seen tornadoes follow this route many times and am surprised that Tuscaloosa hasn't been hit like this before.

My pregnant sister, whose baby is due May 25th, lives in Birmingham. I talked to her last night everything was ok tornado hit just north of them. My cousin along with friends go to college in Birmingham and have many friends who go to school in Tuscaloosa. All of them except my sister, had experienced this tragedy already once before 4 years ago. Im just glad they are physically ok, mentally im not so sure.

[73mountaineer]

We are in a Birmingham suburb, about 15 miles SE of the city. There are a lot of trees down in our area, but we are ok. The areas that got hit head-on by the tornadoes and the worst of the storms were pretty much to the north of Birmingham, for the most part.

There is an unbelievable amount of storm-related damage throughout all areas around Birmingham. I have never seen so many downed trees in my life!

The AP is reporting at least 201 dead from this series of storms, 131 confirmed dead in Alabama alone.

There is a lot more information (and some truly saddening photos) available here: http://www.al.com/

[W_B_K]

Thoughts and prayers for all those hit by the recent outbreaks... the amount and intensity of the tornados spawned recently by these storms is just absurd. Not to mention the deaths brought about by the flooding from the heavy rains.

[a_bit_crafty]

How terrible. My prayers are with them. I didn't even hear about this on the news this morning (maybe I missed it?). They've been preoccupied with the royal wedding nonsense.

[flycbyrd]

Just watched a video, in my controversial issues in policing class, of Tuscaloosa; believed to be the closest video to the storm. I will try and find it later, but the guy who took the video was dangerously close.

[BCatl]

In my state (GA) we lost 14 so far, which of course is bad, but I saw a report this afternoon that Alabama had lost 180 souls. This is truly a tragedy and the season is not over yet.

[NorthALABeeKeep]

I'm from Athens/Huntsville area but had to go to southeast Texas for work. Talked with wife and everything at home is ok but lots of destruction around. Huntsville (population ~200,000) has no electricity. Maybe without power for up to a week. I have a lot to be thankful for.....

[superbleu]

Just a heads up, on of our member's in Tuscaloosa, Alabamalawyer sent me a PM telling me that he and his family and home escaped any damage from the Tornado.