On Wednesday, April 27, 2011 around 2:00 in the afternoon I called my mother-in-law, who lives in White, Georgia and asked if she had been watching the weather. Before we ended the call, I reminded her that they were welcome to come to our house that evening so that if the storms got bad, as they were predicting, we could all get in the basement.
The skies were a nasty shade of green that day. The wind whipped violently throughout the afternoon, and the atmosphere grew hotter and more humid as the afternoon progressed into evening. By the time my husband and I got home from work we still had not heard from his parents, but I began making preparations in the basement - blankets, pillows, candles, flashlights, a radio, and bottled water. Around 8:00 PM I asked Brandon to call his parents and tell them to come now, or stay put. We had been watching the violent storms move across Alabama - and a terrible tornado had just ripped Tuscaloosa, AL apart and was headed straight for us. At this point, the storms were roughly an hour away. At first Brandon's parents said they would be fine at home. We hung up and about three minutes later they called back - they had changed their mind and were headed in our direction (about 15 mins.)
Within a few minutes, the winds picked up and the skies turned darker. Thunder and rain moved in. Around 8:30 Brandon's parents, sister and grandmother (who lives across the street from Brandon's parents) arrived. When I opened the door to let them in, a blast of hot air hit me in the face and I knew we were in for a rough night. It was nearly 9:00 and it was at least 85 degrees outside - 10 to 15 degrees warmer than it had been at 6:00. At 9:00, a tornado warning had been issued for our county and the sirens began blaring. Our good friends and neighbors who live across the street came running with their child in tow, to hole up in the basement with us.
Brandon and his father stayed upstairs and continued to watch the radar. The storm, which was headed directly for our town, began taking a turn for the south. We continued to hide out in the basement as we watched the path of the storm head straight for Brandon's parent's neighborhood. Within 5 minutes of the time the storm passed, my in-law's cells began ringing off the hook. Their neighbors were calling to check on them - to see if they were okay and had made it through the tornado. We knew then that it was bad. Really really bad. Their neighbors were frightened and looking out into pitch blackness. There was no power for miles. No one could see my in-law's house or their 5 poultry houses. My neighbors and I watched as Brandon's parents began to panic.
Brandon and his father decided to get in the truck and ride in the direction of their home. While they were gone, my mother-in-law was frantically trying to reach other family members in the White area. She reached one cousin and heard the terrible news - two family member's homes completely gone. One family member could see the grandmother's home - the front porch completely gone. And praise the Lord - she was sitting safely in my basement the entire time. But still, we had no news about their home or their farm. And a second storm was headed straight for White. I called Brandon. He was frantic. They couldn't get within a mile of the farm. Too many trees across the road. All he could see was darkness and destruction. I warned him that another storm was headed straight for them and that they needed to leave and then the phone was gone. I believe my mother-in-law was crying at this point. I called Brandon again and I could hear the rain and hail beating down on the truck. They were turning around and trying to get out of storm #2.
The tornado sirens began sounding again and my neighbors, Brandon's grandmother, my mother and sister-in-law and I hunkered down for round two. A few minutes later, Brandon and my father-in-law were banging on the door. My father-in-law's words: "It's bad. It's real bad."
After about 30 minutes, the storms had finally passed. It was pouring rain, but we gathered all the rain coats, boots and umbrellas in the house and Brandon left with his parents and sister to try again to reach their home. The neighbors left and the boys were in bed. Brandon's grandmother and I sat in the living room and watched on the radar as the storm continued to rip North Georgia apart. I continued to call Brandon with not much success. The service was terrible and I just got bits and pieces- "the neighbor's house is gone" or "chicken house down." Three hours later, at nearly 3:00 AM, Brandon came home.
We laid in the bed for nearly an hour as he tried to clear his head enough to sleep. He tried to tell me how bad it was - trees everywhere, chicken houses demolished, the roof gone, the neighbor's house in complete shambles. We slept about 2.5 hours before the boys woke us up. We dropped the boys off at my mom's house around 8:30 because Brandon had a doctor's appointment that morning. After the appointment (around 10:30) we made the trip to Brandon's parent's house. As we began making our way into the disaster area, these are the images of what we saw -
The road Brandon's family lives on.
A transformer in the road - live wires everywhere.
His parents' next door neighbor (and cousin). Brandon and his family had to CUT 5 members of this family out of their basement at 1:00 in the morning Thursday morning, including an 87-year-old woman. Everyone made it out alive.
Brandon's parent's home. So blessed to still have their home. The tornado missed their home by FEET.
A chicken house on the ground. The roof just sat down on the birds inside.
This is the same shady oak tree I mentioned in my Easter post :(
Neighbor's home.
More demolished chicken houses.
The tin from the rooftops of the chicken houses was found everywhere - even miles away, wrapped and twisted around trees and fences.
We discovered these seven beautiful horses in our pasture. We did NOT own horses before the tornado.
You can see the path of the tornado through the pasture - upon closer inspection, the grass was laid down right where the F3 tornado came through.
The last few days have been a blur for everyone in the Rutledge family, but especially Brandon's parents. There were roofs to tarp (but thank God they still had one!), trees to cut down, and around 100,000 chickens to get rid of. I can't really describe the clean up activities in one sitting. There has been such an incredible outpouring of help, support and man power given to our family. People driving by just stop and ask to help. Church families, friends, and extended family members show up when the sun comes up and leave long after it sets. Just within a week, the place looks so much better. For Brandon's parents, if you are reading this and have donated, prayed or worked with us - THANK YOU! Thursday morning, in the wake of the storm, I just felt so small and helpless. This HUGE storm just tore away everything that so many families had worked their whole lives for. And then just days later, as so many stepped in to help, we have never felt so loved :) Thanks friends!
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