A deadly tornado stretching a mile wide tore through downtown Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday evening, killing at least 15 people, flattening homes and buildings, and bringing further damage and death to a region already battered by storms.
Power losses were widespread across the University of Alabama, where many students were holed up after the tornado swept just south of the campus.
Emily Crawford, a third-year student at the law school, said she had been preparing for an end-of-semester exam when the tornado swirled by. By nightfall she was still at the law school, which had become a refuge for scores of students, many of whom spoke of devastation in their neighborhoods worse than they had seen reported from Hurricane Katrina.
“It is surreal,” Ms. Crawford said. “People are coming up to the law school because they don’t have anywhere else to go. The school is sending buses into town to pick up students and bring them back to campus so they have somewhere safe to stay.” The tornado was only the latest in a series that have struck the southern United States this week, causing heavy rains and flooding in an area stretching from Texas to Georgia, officials said Wednesday.
With the many Facebook status posts, tweets, and texts that were constantly updated with concerns about the first tornado alert for Baylor this year, students were thankfully not affected. Many student's were on lockdown in the library basement, or hiding with roommates in the bathrooms of their apartments or dorms. Alerts are to be taken seriously, and Baylor warned students through email, text message, and voicemail. Way to respond quickly in times of an emergency.
