Clarence Smith, a 71-year-old semi-retired brick mason, hid in his chimney hearth during the storms that ravaged Alabama on April 27.
“It was scary,” said Smith, a widower who lives alone on a dead-end street in the Pratt City neighborhood of Birmingham.
He heard the trees snapping and felt the thump of debris striking his house. When he emerged, Smith was one of the fortunate ones.
Even though every tree within 75 yards of his 35-year-old home was on the ground, his house only suffered minor roof damage and his deck was missing a few rails.
One block over, it is a different story. Whole neighborhoods are leveled. People’s homes are now a mass of timber, trees and trash. One house is missing most of its roof and exterior walls.
Smith has been through bad weather before. This time he knew where to hide.
“Houses get cleaned off to the slab, but you always see the brick chimneys left standing after the storms. The chimneys are still there. And I built my chimney,” Smith said.
Blue tarps serve as temporary shingles for most remaining structures. Schools and churches prepare community meals and smiling volunteers hand out frozen popsicles to dirty relief workers and contractors.
One Alabama Baptist disaster relief coordinator estimated only 10 percent of the debris had been removed since the deadly storms more than a month ago.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley announced May 28 that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had granted his request for an extension of Operation Clean Sweep, the program aimed at removing storm debris. The extension will last until July 12.
“There’s still so much that needs to be done here,” said Art Snead, a volunteer disaster relief team leader from Long Hollow Baptist Church (LHBC), Hendersonville, Tenn.
Snead has been organizing and leading weekend trips to tornado-stricken areas like Pleasant Grove and Pratt City.
Over Memorial Day weekend, Snead guided his third trip. Ten other churchgoers from LHBC’s multiple campuses gathered May 27 at the Hendersonville site with items such as chain saws, baby formula and a blue Ford tractor.
The team arrived at NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville, which has hosted about 15 disaster relief teams from as far away as Ft. Smith, Ark.
Alabama Baptist volunteer disaster relief leaders arranged for the LHBC team to work on Smith’s property the first day of their latest trip.
“We might not be able to change the world, but each person can change their little piece of it,” said Dr. Hillman Mann, an anatomy and physiology professor at Volunteer State College in Gallatin, Tenn., and one of the LHBC volunteers.
In just two days, the team helped nine tornado victims in all. (LifeWay)
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