I realize there are other things going on but please remember to keep our fellow Americans in your prayers. The death toll is approaching 300, and in Alabama alone the death toll is 210. Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Alabama were the hardest hit with neighborhoods literally gone. In West Birmingham, 2000 homes are gone, and closer to the city over 3000 are gone. The numbers from this storm are truly astronomical and this storm is being referred to as “Alabama’s Katrina.”
In Mississippi, a small town not far from my home town was wiped out and hundreds are without their homes and livelihoods.
USA Today has a good synopsis. More here. Here.
The following is an account of the state of things in Smithville, Mississippi:
“The Smithville resident exited the broken building to survey the damage but wasn’t prepared for what he saw – an entire community in ruins.
Town Hall: Gone.
Police Station: Gone.
Post Office: Gone
Mel’s Diner: Gone
Smithville Baptist Church: Gone
Smithville United Methodist Church: Gone
Phil’s Place: Gone.
Neighborhood after neighborhood: Gone, gone and gone.
The half-mile wide twister entered town around 4 p.m., its winds raging about 260 miles per hour. It flattened the entire downtown area and more than one-third of Smithville’s 430 homes.”
Hate to be a downer, but there are more important things right here at home than a wedding.
I’ve got family down in Birmingham, and thank God they made it through okay. I talked to them yesterday and they said Tuscaloosa is just about gone. The rest of the area is devastated. They’re used to tornadoes down there, but these were just some of the worst anyone has ever seen.
We’ll be praying for everyone.
I have a couple of friends from school down there. Thanks to facebook, we’ve touched base. They’re all out of electicity, need a generator and a shower, but they’re alive.
My prayers go out for those who lost loved ones, and may the Lord shine his face upon them in these hours of need.
Thanks for posting this, Kyle. We have a niece who is in grad school at Auburn and we were not able to get in touch with her for several hours after the storms hit. She is fine; none of the tornados hit that far east.
When something like this happens with such a great loss of life, it makes you stop and think about how tenuous life in this world can be. I have been so impressed with people on the news who lost everything they have but are simply grateful to God that they survived.