I was south of all of the really bad stuff, north of some of the moderately bad stuff.
Damn near lost two family members in that storm. One’s apartment complex survived and the neighbor’s didn’t, the other had moved just a few days prior to her apartment complex being erased. A third was just a few blocks from the intersection of 15th and McFarland. I’ve got family spread out over the entire run of the storm. It is amazing how it all fell together. They all just happened to not be there when it rolled through. I sat here with my TV on one channel, streaming another, just watching, keeping in touch with everyone and keeping one eye to our south west to see if anything was coming our way. Started around lunch time, didn’t stop until at least 11pm. Crazy day. From: CBB - Jay Fuller Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 10:25 AM To: af@afmug.com Subject: [AFMUG] 5 years ago today..... This is what was happening in my home town...... http://abc3340.com/news/videos/april-27-2011-tornado-touches-down-in-cullman What many people do not know is we had massive straight line winds early that morning (in addition to other tornadoes) and many parts of our state were without power during that huge outbreak. After the outbreak, we didn't have power for nearly a week. Watched some of the early morning coverage recently posted on youtube late last night - the last hour or so (really two hours) as the on-air guys were starting to get some damage reports in - - their tone really changed.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElZZNvNdhks Here is the infamous coverage of the event as it happened... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmI9__WLR7Q I was actually out checking on a tower that had been without power since that morning as this thing spun up - i almost drove right into it. There is a picture of the sky from about 30 minutes before (while i was at that tower) hanging in our conference room. My dad's office shows several damage photos from that day. Lots of coverage on youtube - - our state is buzzing about this today....and really this week