As you know now, over 190 people died in Alabama alone yesterday. I suspect the count will go up slightly as some of the wreckage is dug out. The first three-quarters of the clip above is about Alabama, and it will give you an idea of what happened in the large swath hit by the tornadoes. The Birmingham police chief has a phone line open so that missing people can be reported because the devastation in the northwest Birmingham area is so severe that they are trying to make sure that they have accounted for everyone.
Today after work, I noticed very long lines at mid-morning at both the McDonald’s and Waffle House nearest to our house. We live in a rural area, they are about three and a half miles away from us. Curious, I stopped in. These were people from areas affected by the tornado that has passed nearby. Many of their homes had no power or slight damage and they were there to eat. Where many would normally be grumbling because of the long wait times to be served, no one was grumbling and all were patiently waiting. One of the persons said to me that they had found both chunks of building and papers around their house with a Tuscaloosa address on them. The thing is that it is 75 miles from Tuscaloosa to here. Folks were talking about gathering up papers and looking for addresses so as to mail them back to their owners.
The insurance commissioner of Alabama has acted to protect folk. He has declared a 30 day grace period for people to pay any insurance bill that falls due during this time or was due on the day of the storm. This is to prevent insurance carriers from acting quickly to cancel the coverage of those whose bills were due, but may have been unable to mail their payment due to the storm. There have been lessons learned from Katrina and the Gulf oil spill that showed how quickly insurance companies would act to shed those people they could.
The church buildings of the parish to which I am attached appear undamaged. I stopped by there this morning after work. There was a large limb in back that had fallen on a rear walkway, but that was it. As of this morning, I had only heard of one church member that had been hurt. His truck was damaged and he needed some stitches, but is otherwise OK. All in all, it could have been much worse. And, that is a refrain that I keep hearing over and over. It could have been worse. We are all thankful for God’s graces during this time.
UPDATE: Our parish priest has now sent out some updates. The tornado came within a mile of our parish priest’s home. The great-uncle and great-aunt of one of our families were killed. Please pray for them. Another of our member’s took a hit to their house. Their shingles are gone, 15 trees are down around their house, and their shed is destroyed, but they are OK. In fact, they said they were singing, “Christ Is Risen,” while they huddled in their bathroom. In one neighborhood, one of our families has the only house with power and they are providing company and warm meals to their neighbors, but they have no flowing water. Various of our families have no power. Another family had some car damage.
wow!!!