History marks those days. December 7, 1941. September 11, 2001. When those days are mentioned, our minds instantly go back to where we were, whom we were with, how we felt in those moments, those hours that followed the inconceivable.
Alabama history now includes one of those days: April 27, 2011. That day, the first storms hit before daylight, while we slept, while we got ready for work, while we drove our children to school. But those storms were only an omen of the destruction to come. As the day went on, massive tornadoes reached down from the sky and plowed across the state in what would later be considered the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history.
The National Weather Service estimated that 62 tornadoes touched down on what it called a “tragically historic” day in Alabama. The Alabama Emergency Management Agency called the storms “one of the worst natural disasters in state history.”
Several tornadoes took long, wide tracks through the state, killing and injuring hundreds of people and destroying millions of dollars in property. Other tornadoes stayed on the ground for shorter distances but caused death and destruction just the same.
By the end of that day, a reported 272 people were dead in Alabama. All told, the April 25–28 tornado outbreak killed 321 people in six Southern states. Whole Alabama neighborhoods were reduced to rubble. Thousands of homes and nearly 50 Alabama Baptist churches in 42 of the state’s 67 counties were damaged or destroyed.
‘Scenes of destruction’
The damage to churches ranged from minor roof issues to the entire facility being blown away.
The damage also included property and landscaping.
Seventh Street Baptist Church, Cullman, was one of those. It lost 11 majestic oak trees that once towered over the church.
“The whole skyline has changed,” said Debi Brannan, secretary for Seventh Street Baptist, a couple of weeks following the storms. She echoed the sentiment of countless Alabama Baptists across the state who made their way to their damaged church facilities.
And like so many, Seventh Street Baptist received roof damage. It’s damage was primarily on the sanctuary and the gymnasium, according to Pastor Kerry Cleghorn. Some of the sanctuary’s stained-glass windows also were cracked, and the outdoor playground was heavily damaged and littered by storm debris.
Cleghorn said since the trees all fell northward, they did not harm the building. The obliteration of the beautiful oaks on campus was a loss to the congregation and touched many, including Minister of Music Jethro Harbison, who penned a remembrance, “Good Bye, Mighty Oaks, Gifts of God.”
But Harbison was not alone in expressing his emotions through writing. Others across the state wrote songs, poems, blogs, stories, etc. The Alabama Baptist has been collecting the various works shared with the staff and is posting those on the paper’s blog at thealabamabaptist.wordpress.com and website at www.thealabamabaptist.org. Search for “tornado stories” to find this section. Individuals may also submit items to be considered for the section to news@thealabamabaptist.org or share it on The Alabama Baptist’s Facebook page.
Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), recently wrote on his blog:
“Those of us who witnessed the scenes of destruction in the early hours after the incidents were moved to tears and almost speechless as we viewed the indescribable debris and rubble caused by these tornadoes. Those memories are deeply etched in our minds.”
Sadness, shock and numbness floated through two-thirds of the state and stilled the air for days following the devastating experience.
“We are shell-shocked,” Amy Rollins, a member of First Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, said April 29, 2011.
The dazed, robotic movements of those sifting through piles and piles of debris proved her point.
That same day Sammy Taylor, pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, said the reality of what had happened had not truly sunk in yet.
Taylor’s wife, Judy, said, “I cry a lot.”
And she wasn’t alone. Few people could speak of the horrific event days later without wiping away tears.
The smell of blood in the air continued to haunt Tim Haney, pastor of First, Phil Campbell, and the heaviness of all that had happened and all that was to come showed in the weariness of the pastors’ faces.
“This is so massive,” Haney said that day. “In the matter of four minutes life as we know it changed.”
What Haney didn’t realize at that moment was just how true his statement was for all Alabama Baptists.
But despite the temptation to curl up in a corner and process what had just happened, Alabama Baptists in every county headed out their doors to help. Neighbors helped neighbors, and once strangers became neighbors as they helped each other.
In fact, most of the hundreds of volunteers streaming out from churches with chain saws, gloves and bottles of water were untrained in the sense of disaster relief credentials, but they were driven by their compassion to help their neighbor.
“There are a lot of passionate people across Alabama who really have a heart for other people and who are doing what they can to help,” Bobby DuBois, associate executive director of SBOM, said in an early assessment of the massive relief effort following the tornadoes. Alabama Baptists “do what they are called upon to do” after disaster strikes, he said.
As weather warnings were issued, many churches opened their facilities as emergency shelters. After the tornadoes passed, other churches, including Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Hueytown; Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville; and First Baptist Church, Russellville, worked with Red Cross officials to become official sites providing temporary shelter and other basic necessities for displaced residents.
And in Pleasant Grove, Cottage Hill Baptist Church ran a free shuttle service for people who had to walk from police checkpoints to check on their homes and relatives. The church also provided beds, meals, water, clothing and electrical outlets for people to charge their cellphones in order to contact loved ones.
Scores of Alabama Baptist churches of all sizes opened their doors and informed their communities they would be accepting items for storm victims. Fellowship halls and lobbies looked like supply warehouses as donations poured in, volunteers organized items and deliveries were made to individuals and areas in need.
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