The land between the storms…

…that’s where I live. The feature photo of the day is actually the second tornado in the afternoon… but the day started like this:

It is not unusual to have the backup power on my computer and harddrives kick on as the power goes out for a storm. That was approximately 6:32am. That’s when I woke up.

And that’s when the first tornado hit Guntersville.

My dad had been up watching the weather when he went in to the other side of the house where my mum was still asleep. “What’s that sound?” she asked, referring to the loud roar of the storm outside.

She was hearing a tornado pass by only a few hundred yards away.

Fairly dramatic way to start the morning. Unable to contact my grandmother, my dad and I went into town to check on everybody. He had to come back to the house at first, the mountain roads were blocked.

.

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I don’t mean to just show you a bunch of photos of carnage, but that’s honestly what was going on here.

It was a bit freaky heading into Guntersville, moments after this tornado tracked straight through the peninsula, spinning off a number of other smaller tornados busting down all sorts of things through the town.

Up on the opposite mountain across town, we found the rest of my family all well and unharmed. I don’t use the word “war zone” very lightly, but it was like walking through one. I had to park at the end of the road and walk a few hundred meters into the neighborhood.

It was not long before everyone began to emerge from their shelters to see what damage had been done.

Like some kind of odd disaster tourism, the people and families that usually see news from afar through the safety of their television sets just had the news come to them.

Almost bizarre to see. Within hours of the initial hit – the only direct hit Guntersville received on 4/27 – the roads were getting cleared by armies of chainsaw-wielding neighbors. They cut paths, cleared yards and driveways and rolled up downed power lines so the neighborhoods could be accessible.

My family’s farm is a spaghetti of devastation. Remember this photo from a few days ago:

…this tree is gone. And this view, taken a few days prior on 4/19:

…has become this:

An absolute horrific mess. The death of a thing.

Preparing for the second storm, my dad and I drove through the rest of the town to check on a few more people.

It was amazing how fast things were being attacked by armies of workers.

Nevertheless, some things will take a little longer to get back to normal. The reality is, things are going to be different around here for a while – not to mention the fact that it might be a long time before we have power.

Still, the things that matter most are still intact.

And the day had just begun.

That’s the tornado that took out Cullman, Alabama.

Stay tuned, this drama has just begun…
-Noah D.