Friday, November 17, 2006

Behold, the power of cheese

In case you haven't seen the national weather news lately, you may be interested to know that a tornado swept through Montgomery Alabama this week.

It was on Wednesday and there was a tornado drill (well, not a drill, the real thing) that late morning. I work on the top floor but usually refuse to go downstairs and sit in a hall with 60 or 70 teenagers...

I stayed in my office watching the wonder of nature outside my window. Just then, a very large wooden sign falls over and it pushed against my truck... i smirk and think "Eh, It is a truck". Then, the waterfall that forms right outside my window during a heavy rain begins to fall horizontally... i mean at an almost 180 degree angle....

The power then goes out and my UPS starts to kick in with beeps and screeches, keeping my servers up. Say no more; I unplug my laptop and walk downstairs...

After the storm, we learn that th FunZone (A LARGE building, made of concrete and metal, that housed a skating rink, bumpercars, video games and other 'fun' stuff) was hit by a tornado... When i saw the damage, it literally looked about as much of a building as the world trade trowers did after 9/11... like a bomb went off in it....

FYI, the FunZone has something during the days called "The learning zone" which is essentially a daycare... it had about 60 kids in there at the time. The employyes did a masterful job of getting the kids out before the tornado hit. One kid had to get stitches in his jaw and head, and was out of the hospital in less than 24 hours. Most of the kids got a kick out of the whole ordeal because they got to seek shelter in a dry cleaning store (pretty much a field trip). Then moms and dads showed up crying and in a panic, which (of course) made the kids panic and start crying... lighten up mom!

Likewise, saddleback ridge and taylor crossing apartments (my old stomping grounds) got hit big time. The tragedy in all this was that most renters dont have renters insurance... and all their processions are now gone.

Vaughn Parck c of C and Frazier UMC opened up as shelters this week...

See pics! All pics courtesy of Ryan F.



The not-so FUnZone... between the KFC and the car audio place. If you havent been in Fungomery in a while, this is right next to the BIG post office by AUM (Where all the good looking women send their mail). That post office has been closed ever since. All front windows blown out and cars upside down.


Saddleback Ridge apartments and some randomly mangled metal....

And Taylor Crossing apartments. Me and Ryan used to live here. Notice the top floor unit... there is a reason they tell you go go to the bottom level during a tornado... Only glass left on that SUV is the windshield.

5 comments:

JS said...

Oh, forgot the most important part!

Moral(s) of the story:

God is powerful.

You may have had a bad day, but at least your living room has a room on it still.

You arent sleeping in a shelter tonight.

You can move out of the "bad" side of town to avoid crime, but tonados still can go through the "good" parts of town.

Mat Brewster said...

Yowzers. tornadoes can do some awesome damage. Glad you are ok.

bigsip said...

It was a scary day. Thanks for the post Jamison.

Judy said...

Hey, was that the same tornado that hit Beulaville, NC on Thursday(about an hour from me). The weather was pretty wild up here yesterday, but it all ended mid-afternoon.

...And my "bad day" started with my getting rained on! Thankfully, it ended with still a cozy living room...

Diana said...

Yikes! I'm glad everyone's ok! We love you all!