Helicopters, chainsaws, and obliteration

I made the journey to my hometown today because I just needed to see my loved ones. I've been a wreck since the tornado hit Wednesday evening, and I hoped seeing them and hugging them would make me feel better. Thankfully, it worked wonders.

After I visited with them, I headed into town. I needed to see it myself. Sure, I'd seen videos on the news and pictures on the internet, but my eyeballs needed to see the city for themselves.

I was rendered speechless. Several parts of the city are literally obliterated. I couldn't get to the worst parts: 15th Street past the McFarland intersection and Alberta City. There is so much debris everywhere that it's hard to get in and out, and those poor folks need help, not sightseers.

The area was eerily quiet. No traffic. No horns honking. No blaring radios. The only noises were chainsaws cutting through fallen trees, helicopters surveying the damage, and firetruck sirens.

It's just hard to take in. I hardly recognize the place where I grew up.

(on 15th Street approaching the intersection with McFarland Blvd.)

(intersection of 15th Street and McFarland Blvd...a shell of its former self...there's my favorite car wash {Tide Clean} destroyed on the corner)

(looking towards the hospital)

(looking down 15th Street...wiped off the map...about a mile down this road is where Olivia lives and where she and Daniel rode out the storm {you can just make out the apartment buildings at the very back}...God was looking out for them)

(We used to get our film developed here, and then it became a yogurt/ice cream place...no longer.)

(Daniel lives up the hill in the right corner of this picture.)

(across the street from Daniel and Curtis's house...the boys have a massive tree down in their backyard, but it blessedly missed the house)

(No trains gettin' through here anytime soon.)

(There's absolutely nothing left of this house on Holt-Peterson Road but its slab. Completely annihilated.)

(The trees on this hill used to be so dense that you couldn't see those mines carved in the hill. Now, they're all in splinters. The smell of pine was intense.)

(Cars and trucks thrown into the trees, and another vacant slab on top of the hill.)

(the entrance to Arcadia from Alberta City)

(This took up two pages in today's paper. I'm so glad The Tuscaloosa News is helping out this way since there is no cell phone service or electricity in the city's center. I cannot imagine not knowing where my loved ones were days after the storm.)

The day was not without its bright spots. I was amazed at the number of people chipping in to help their neighbors cut trees, haul limbs, and drape tarps. I saw smiling faces. I heard singing. I heard more than once, "Hey there! How ya doin' today?" Folks putting their own cares aside long enough to ask about passersby.

Tuscaloosa and all the other affected areas in Alabama will be fine, one day. In the meantime, your prayers are most appreciated.