Terror from the sky and glimmers of hope

Just over one week ago, a series of over 200 deadly tornados ripped across 300 miles of the American South. My sister is a nurse and was working on the fourth floor of the hospital in Tuscaloosa when the mile wide twister hit. She said she saw it coming out the window as she and the staff frantically worked together to secure their patients. Just moments before the storm hit, my sister made a desperate phone call to my mother saying, "There is a massive tornado headed straight for the hospital. We are looking at a direct hit. Make sure everyone knows I love them....." And the line went dead.

About ten o'clock that evening our cell phones began ringing. The signal was fading in and out and it was hard to hear. Finally, we made out the broken voices on the other end. It was our friends in Ringgold, GA saying they were OK and asked if we were OK too.

Our house had been without power since early that morning. The first tornado to hit our area damaged our end of the city, breaking power poles and shredding lines. So throughout the day and into the night, we were oblivious to what was happening around us.

It was not until the next morning when anyone fully understood the capacity of what had happened. We turned on our battery powered radio and listened to reports of the terror the storms had reaped.

Arial photo of Chattanooga tornado damage
Photo by TEMA

Aftermath of tornado in Ringgold, GA

Photo by Ashley Moore

Aftermath of Tuscaloosa tornado

Photo by Jason Clark

In just over 12 hours,  over 300 people were dead. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama there are still around 400 people missing. In our area, more than 30 people were killed.

One of those 30 people killed in our area was a 12 year old boy from the small rural town of Bridgeport, Alabama. Moved by the massive devastation across our region, a group of high school students from a neighboring community (the community where my husband teaches) made the decision to cancel their class trip and instead donate all the trip money to this young tornado victim's family to help pay for his funeral costs.

You must understand the communities in this part of Tennessee and Alabama are not considered wealthy by any means. And, many of these high school students have never traveled beyond the jurisdiction of their own community. Their destination was Tybee Island, GA and the amount they earned from various year- long school fundraisers was $2,000.00- all of which they unselfishly donated to the 12 year old tornado victim's family.

As soon as word got out about the gift, hoards of monetary donations flooded the school. As of yesterday, nearly $5,000.00 had been given by anonymous donors to help replace the funds these students gave up. In fact, even the city of Savannah, GA found out about the student's generous gift and offered the group an all expense paid trip. Now, in turn, the school is donating the extra $5,000.00 to the American Red Cross as assistance to all the tornado victims across the American South.

Tornado aftermath in Bridgeport, AL
Photo by Stephen Hargis

This story is just one example of the rainbows that can emerge from the darkest of skies. While this one act cannot bring back all the lives that were lost, it does give us remaining feelings of hope. Sometimes, it is those who have the least to give that can offer the most.

After 31 hours without electricity or phone service, I finally heard my sister's voice on the other end of the telephone line. She was exhausted, shaken, but safe. Just as the F5 twister was about to hit the hospital, it turned and ripped through the parking lot instead, leveling a strip mall next door and taking the lives of everyone inside.