Tuscaloosa tornado's destruction leaves relief workers in disbelief

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The robust wheels of this 4-wheel-drive Kubota are designed to roll across unpredictable terrain.
They often operate at construction sites, where they withstand loose nails or sharp wires, among other hazards.
This one was loaded with hamburgers, can openers and diapers, and was traveling deep into some of Tuscaloosa’s hardest-hit areas from Wednesday afternoon’s killer tornado.
Bart Wilder drove through the remains of the Rosedale Apartment complex Saturday, the terrain here covered in piles of debris that included the red bricks and gray cinder blocks that once stood as buildings.
Next to him sat Charles Anderson, a co-worker at HOAR Construction out of Bessemer. The company collected supplies, and set up in the Hardee’s parking lot along 15th Street, across from what used to be a row of small businesses now completely devastated by the storm.
As with most of the people visiting the devastation for the first time, neither man — each in his mid-30s — was prepared for the overwhelming scene surrounding them.
"It looks like a bomb went off, absolutely decimated," Wilder said. "I’m surprised at the destruction. I’ve never seen anything this devastating in my life. It’s shocking. I can see why people are in shock right now just trying to survive."
'This storm is just horrific, and it’s very personal'

The deeper they ventured into the tornado’s swath of destruction, the more somber the ride. The sight of huge trees blown over and resting on severely damaged homes was simply a sampling. The two men took pictures with cell phones and shook their heads in disbelief at the repeating cycle of homes shattered and spit across several of the hardest-hit neighborhoods.
Front steps leading to nothing was a common site, as were homes completely blown off their foundations — some all the way down to the dirt where they once stood.
"This storm is just horrific, and it’s very personal," said Anderson, who graduated from Alabama and once was an equipment manager for the football team. "I just felt I had to come down here and do something. What I saw today was insane. People’s homes are gone; it’s gone. Apartment complexes are destroyed."
The midday sun forced temperatures here into the upper 80s, making water and sunblock priorities.
Fortunately, volunteers overlapped efforts to distribute supplies to anyone willing to take them. Some walked through neighborhoods, while others set up distribution areas on corners near main intersections.
Cleanup, recovery and volunteer efforts circulated throughout the city as power companies worked to restore electricity and traffic lights.
Vehicles were allowed to pass on what had been a previously closed section of McFarland Boulevard, near the intersection of 15th Street. Passengers soaked in the destruction as their cars inched along the clogged artery linking the University of Alabama to Interstate 20/59. National Guard troops were scattered about, some carrying M4 automatic weapons, to help with local law enforcement. Some even offered water.
As Wilder and Anderson headed back, they encountered seemingly endless destruction, from low-income neighborhoods to those once built around picturesque Forest Lake. Now, the lasting image of once-enormous trees is one of stripped bark, snapped-off tops, or of trunks completely blown over, roots exposed.
Memorials set for Ashley Harrison, others

Along the way, Wilder and Anderson pulled onto 25th Street, where Alabama football player Carson Tinker had lived with 2 roommates before the tornado blew their home to bits.
As the tornado approached, Tinker huddled in a closet with 3 people, including his girlfriend, Ashley Harrison.
Cindy Overstreet said Saturday that her son, Payton Holley, was one of the four thrown across the street and scattered across a park where they used to walk their dogs. Harrison was found dead, while the others survived with injuries.
Overstreet stood near a pair of shallow graves where two of Tinker’s and Harrison’s dogs are now buried. They are just steps away from a wooden cross near the spot where Harrison was found.
Overstreet returned to look for some of her son’s belongings, and found a billfold of Tinker’s. She immediately returned it to him at DCH Hospital.
In it was a note from Harrison, which Tinker showed to his grandmother.
"It was a note from Ashley that said she loved him," Overstreet said. "That’s all he cared about."