After Wednesday, it will be years before many Alabamians take another tornado warning lightly.
The devastating twisters that ripped through the state from before dawn to midnight were predicted well in advance by meteorologists, but that did not stop the state's death toll from approaching 200, with more confirmations likely.
As Gov. Robert Bentley noted, with storms this large and this powerful, there is only so much that the public can do to prepare for them no matter how much warning they have.
This rash of tornadoes will go down among the worst in history, both in the number of tornadoes and the number of deaths. While it will take some time for official numbers to be confirmed, the national Storm Prediction Center received reports of at least 165 likely tornadoes, and the death toll had topped 280 in six states and was still rising as search and rescue efforts continued.
Alabama by far took the brunt of the storms' fury. The "parent tornadic supercell" that spawned the tornado that plowed through Tuscaloosa may have traveled more that 350 miles, strewing destruction from the Mississippi line to Georgia.
These also may be the most photographed storms in history because cell phones videos and traffic and tower cameras have become so common. People who would never have seen themselves as a "storm chaser" still could not resist capturing videos as the storms passed nearby.
The live video broadcast of the Tuscaloosa storm making its way across the city chilled the psyches of Alabamians all across the state, because so many of them were familiar with the neighborhood just south of the University of Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium where the storm was traveling.
The human suffering from the storm outbreak will weigh on the state for months and years. The property damage was devastating, but communities will more quickly recover from it. The roar of chainsaws Thursday in neighborhoods from Tuscaloosa to Cullman was a testament that the recovery already had started.
But many of those who live in the heavily damaged communities will need help. Some of that will come from the federal government, and some from the state. Many communities that escaped the storms' wrath, including Monroe County, are sending aid. However, individuals need to respond as well.
We urge readers to identify responsible charities and to generously donate to help the thousands of survivors put their lives back together.
Alabamians will bounce back from this horror, but they will do it faster with your help.
The devastating twisters that ripped through the state from before dawn to midnight were predicted well in advance by meteorologists, but that did not stop the state's death toll from approaching 200, with more confirmations likely.
As Gov. Robert Bentley noted, with storms this large and this powerful, there is only so much that the public can do to prepare for them no matter how much warning they have.
This rash of tornadoes will go down among the worst in history, both in the number of tornadoes and the number of deaths. While it will take some time for official numbers to be confirmed, the national Storm Prediction Center received reports of at least 165 likely tornadoes, and the death toll had topped 280 in six states and was still rising as search and rescue efforts continued.
Alabama by far took the brunt of the storms' fury. The "parent tornadic supercell" that spawned the tornado that plowed through Tuscaloosa may have traveled more that 350 miles, strewing destruction from the Mississippi line to Georgia.
These also may be the most photographed storms in history because cell phones videos and traffic and tower cameras have become so common. People who would never have seen themselves as a "storm chaser" still could not resist capturing videos as the storms passed nearby.
The live video broadcast of the Tuscaloosa storm making its way across the city chilled the psyches of Alabamians all across the state, because so many of them were familiar with the neighborhood just south of the University of Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium where the storm was traveling.
The human suffering from the storm outbreak will weigh on the state for months and years. The property damage was devastating, but communities will more quickly recover from it. The roar of chainsaws Thursday in neighborhoods from Tuscaloosa to Cullman was a testament that the recovery already had started.
But many of those who live in the heavily damaged communities will need help. Some of that will come from the federal government, and some from the state. Many communities that escaped the storms' wrath, including Monroe County, are sending aid. However, individuals need to respond as well.
We urge readers to identify responsible charities and to generously donate to help the thousands of survivors put their lives back together.
Alabamians will bounce back from this horror, but they will do it faster with your help.
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