April Fury

On April 27, 2011, the weather looked a little concerning in my hometown of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I finally got the call from our school system that school was going to be dismissed at 1pm; however, I picked up my son before noon. I was worried about his safety, and I also wanted to avoid the school traffic when other parents swarmed the school at dismissal.

Jordan and I have never been scared of bad weather. Not like our Bichon, Jake, who barks incessantly at the voice in the sky warning us to "seek shelter now". Our pit bull Mallie, abides by the instructions by taking cover behind our couch until she feels safe enough to come out. And who can forget my two yorkies who need a valium every time it thunders. Needless to say, when the weather cranks up, so do my dogs.

The storm came through with high winds, heavy rain, hail, thunder and lightning. The only damage we experienced was a section of our privacy fence that had been blown down due to the high winds. It was later that I learned just how lucky we had been to have escaped what was later determined to be an EF-5 tornado. Not only did that tornado narrowly miss us, but Alabama experienced an outbreak of over 60 tornados. Several cities experienced extensive damage including Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Phil Campbell, Hackleburg, Cullman, Harvest, Mt. Hope and several other smaller communities. Some communities were even wiped out. Thousands are left homeless. The death toll in Alabama alone has been reported to be has high as 250, two of those include my grandmother's first cousin and his wife, who were found in a pasture behind their house.

 

My husband and I had plans to visit my best friend in Memphis, TN for our anniversary, but considering the disaster that affected people just 20 miles from our hometown, we decided to cancel our plans and head to Phil Campbell (the town nearest us with severe damage) to see how we could help. I spoke with a friend of mine that runs a pit bull rescue, Rescue- A – Bull, and together we traveled to Phil Campbell to see if we could aid in rescuing displaced animals. Once arriving there, it took a good ten minutes of just looking around at the devastation before I could even move. It was almost like my brain didn't register what my eyes were seeing. It appeared as if a bomb had been dropped on the city. Everywhere I looked, people were either standing atop their own little pile of rubble that used to be where they lived, or they were stammering around in a daze trying to grasp what had happened. My husband and I spent the next 2 days traveling to three of the closest and hardest hit areas to offer our help. We heard story after story of people pulling loved ones out from under debris. I saw one elderly man struggle to nail his door back on the door frame, which was the only thing still standing on the slab that was once his home. I passed by a group of young girls around the age of 10-11 and noticed one of them pointing to a ripped dress among the rubble. I overheard one girl say, "There's her dress" and another one ask, "I wonder if it hurt when she died?" Over a 3 day span, we visited Phil Campbell, Hackleburg and Mt. Hope cooking hot dogs, delivering food & water to those that weren't able to make it to the command centers, offering condolences to victims, providing supplies to those in need and rescuing several displaced pets.

Alabama is in a state of recovery. It will be a long, hard road, but Alabamians are strong and the way the whole state has pulled together during this tragedy is amazing. Donations are pouring in from all over, as well as supplies. Facebook pages such as www.facebook.com/ALTornadoAnimals and www.facebook.com/PicturesandDocumentsfoundafterAprilTornadoes have been a huge success in reuniting people with items and animals that were lost during the storm. Several "in memory of" sites have been created. The whole state has pulled together to comfort and assist everyone affected by the storm.

Families are able to apply for assistance, but considering the time it's going to take to rebuild what was destroyed, assistance is bound to run out. I would like to put before you a "call to action" and ask for help from everyone reading this to please consider a contribution/donation to either assist in animal rescue & care or the cleanup and rebuilding of the communities affected.

If interested, please contact me by email: LMiller943@aol.com or Facebook: www.facebook.com/leanna.clemmons