This Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal: Tornado Entry: 5

I have decided to simply title my journal entries as: Tornado Entries with a number. I’ll continue to do this till things calm down a bit.

I heard my ships bell clock chime eight. This meant it was either 12:00, 4:00, or 8:00 o’clock. I whispered to myself, “Please let it be 4:00 a.m.” No, it was midnight. I was in bed at 8:00. It has been a week since I’ve slept a full night.

My journal is my salvation… I sit and type out what has happened with my morning coffee and it is so cathartic to let my emotions out.. and believe me those emotions have been going all over the place. There are so many directions I can take my entries since my life has turned upside down.

I’m afraid I’m going to have too long to express where those emotions are going so I’m going to ration them out!

It was raining, chilly and drizzly Tuesday morning. I was tempted to blow the day off… but my inner voice told me that was the cowards way out.. that was the same as being a fair weather friend. That inner voice also told me; I already had a days work under my belt, probably more than most of the people who would be signing in.

I figure there has to be a reason I’m here. In reality there are not many people in my age bracket who have unlimited time to devote. Working a job really inhibits volunteer time.

My team from Monday was gone. After orientation an assorted group was assigned to me. I’m just so amazed how people have volunteered from all over to help out. I had people from North Carolina, Students from the university, and a homeless man who lives in a tent.

Tuesday we were assigned to Alberta City. This area was one of the first suburbs built just east of Tuscaloosa in the 1940’s and 1950’s. It was home to some of the first strip malls. It has seen hard times in recent years.

We had to loop around and approach from the north down 25^th ave. This would be my first foray into this disaster zone. As you approach Alberta City by this route you crest over a hill and drive down to University Drive. Once over the crest the destruction is the entire view. There is hardly a building standing; all the trees are gone. The tallest fixtures are the cranes removing trees and clearing rubble. The National Guard is directing traffic and keeping order.

Our work assignments were all located on a street that circled off University Ave. We assessed what we could do. The two jobs we worked all day on centered on clearing downed trees.

I heard someone say than in working these jobs you can’t be flexible, you have to be fluid.

We had some chain saw troubles at first and I had to return to the base to get another saw. I could drive into Tuscaloosa down University. The scenery was like seeing an “end of the world” movie. Rubble was bulldozed into piles, there was no vegetation, soldiers and police were everywhere. I held my breath as I drove over the rise. Daggy and Stump’s vet is located here. On a happy note the building was intact with little visible damage.

I’m so amazed with the relief efforts. The Red Cross distributed food. I gave a bit of comic relief… they asked if I wanted anything and I replied, “I’d like a rubber band sandwich, and make it snappy!” That got groans and smiles from the crew.

We all put in a full day. It appears this crew will be together for all week which is good as we can all bond and build up a routine.

The home we were cleaning up backed up to the railroad. Amtrak passes through twice a day with the "Southern Crescent", the train that runs between New York City and New Orleans’s. The Southbound Crescent passed through a bit late with official government cars on the back.

It is 43° as I type this out. It is supposed to be sunny and 71° later on in the day. I wish I had a bit more organization to this entry… but I feel it is important to record this ordeal as it unfolds.

I don’t like taking pictures of the devastation, but I feel OK doing shots of my crew and the immediate areas we are working at. Here are some pictures from Tuesday….

This gives an idea how we find our clean out jobs: