What's it like at the center of a tornado? Read this and find out

In this post, I mentioned that the apartment of a friend of mine was destroyed by the tornado that struck Tuscaloosa (technically, a suburb called Alberta City). Last night, that friend, Maribel, and her boyfriend Vinny decided to post their story in a note on Facebook. I asked permission to repost it here, because I think it's something everyone needs to read. This is Maribel & Vinny's story, unedited:

Vinny and I are currently staying at Debbie's, my internship supervisor, house. She has been so wonderful letting us stay at her place, using her shower, beds, washer/dryer, etc. This is really the first moment we've had to really sit and digest all that has happened. We're both still very shaken up and are having a hard time sleeping at night.

So, from the beginning... we lived in Arlington Square apartments in Alberta City, across from the KFC for about 2 years now. We knew that it wasn't the best part of town, and in fact considered buying renter's insurance, but decided not to, because, really, what could happen? We were set to move at the end of July...The apartment we live in is a center apartment on the first floor.

So on Wednesday, schools were canceled and around noon or so, and Vinny and I were joking about how the weather was so nice and we didn't understand why schools were canceled. We thought it was silly to waste such a nice day. I was supposed to go to Alberta Elementary, which is the school I am most at during my internship (and it is conveniently located literally a block from my apartment). So come around 4- 4:30, we still had the tv on, checking out the weather, and James Spann was showing footage of the tornado in Cullman. I was sitting on the couch, saying to Vinny, "Holy crap... That's about to turn into a tornado (when it was only a warning)... James has no idea how bad that's probably about to get." Then, when it got really bad, I said, "I am so sad for all those people right now. I wish I could just yell at the people who don't know what's happening so they can be safe... Ugh! You see that?! There's probably poor dogs and cats caught up in that. That's so frustrating that you just can't prevent that from hurting people. If it were me, I would stop watching tv and run to a safe place, but you know people are going to be dumb and not listen. I'm going to go take a shower."

So I went and took a shower, and when I came back, I sat on the couch in my towel (because, hey, it's my day off, and I felt like being just a little lazy) and James Spann was announcing that there's a tornado in the northeast part of Tuscaloosa county and that it will probably just pass on through without hitting the city, BUT he added, it could possibly take a turn and hit the city anyway, so we needed to stay tuned. So I immediately thought it would be our luck that it WOULD take that turn for the worse and head our way. But you know what I did? Played Angry Birds on my phone... in my towel. Vinny had changed into some jeans, tennis shoes, white t-shirt, put his keys and wallet in his pocket... and I was confused as to why he was doing that. I asked him about it and he said, "Just in case we need to go anywhere." I thought he was nuts, because we didn't have anywhere to go. Then he advised me to get dressed. I was a little stubborn and said, "Yeah, yeah, when I finish this part of my game." Finally, after about 10 minutes, when James said, "the tornado is heading toward downtown Tuscaloosa. This is serious folks. Find a safe place," I reluctantly got dressed.

::VINNY'S NOTE:: Okay so this is Vinny and I have to add my side of things as we go through this note. The thing I should mention now is the reason I got dressed. My dad has driven into my very being to always be prepared for the worst. You never want to be caught too off guard. It's the reason I have (had) tools and blankets in the back of the car, and why I have always kept really strange survival items with me (i.e. glow sticks in case flash lights die, machete for cutting through whatever). So back to our story, I got dressed because whenever it starts to storm, I assume that I need to be ready to go help someone or have some useful things on me. So I got jeans on just in case I needed to get dirty, got my wallet, keys, and phone just in case I need to get somewhere or call someone or get some emergency items. Well...I am so glad I grabbed up those three things. The place I keep these important items in the apartment is now somewhere in Alberta....**

So then, James Spann kept warning about the tornado hitting downtown, so then I thought, "well, this is getting a little too real... we better be safe than sorry" and I got my 3 cats, the new lantern we had bought from the storms the week before, and we went into the bathroom. We had turned up the tv, so we listened as James was continuing to cover the weather. We couldn't hear him too well, but we figured we'd know if things got too bad. The bathroom we have is pretty small, so the cats were looking at me confused as to why we were all crammed in there. To ease their worries, I got them some treats and they were as happy as ever.

So then, the lights began to flicker. They turned off for about 5 seconds, and we turned on our lantern. Then, the lights came back up and we laughed, and said "nevermind that" and turned off the lantern. Then the lights were just out and we turned on the lantern again, thinking that it sucked the power was probably out for good, but at least that's probably the extent of it. Then, I felt my ears pop and what felt like I was being pulled down.. almost like drowning in water. I said, "Did your ears just pop? Did you feel that just now?" And I will never forget the look on Vinny's face.

::VINNY'S NOTE:: You know when you just get that feeling that something is just plain wrong? Ok, to be honest, I never got that feeling before that very moment. It was unsettling fear. I don't know how it was for Maribel exactly but my ears kept popping, even after they had popped. Then my sinuses got so heavy it felt like a cold. I honestly didn't even know what to do but my thoughts kicked in about 1000 mph. I'm pretty sure adrenaline started to kick in that moment. (By the way, it's really hard to type all of this stuff now. We've been swapping out who types just because reliving it is just a little more difficult than we thought it would be.)**

He said, "Get in the tub. NOW. Get in the tub!" I didn't hesitate, as right in that moment I could hear a growing rumble all around us. It was like a monster coming out of nowhere. Ugh. This is getting so hard to type. I'm starting to shake.... So the entire ground starts shaking and it sounds like a giant vacuum monster is about to eat us alive. Suddenly, all the water in the toilets, and plumbing pipes make this awful draining sound like they're being sucked into the middle of the earth. I am petrified. As I'm making myself into the tightest little ball I can under the tub faucet, I look over my shoulder as Vinny is crouching over me, and I see that the poor cats are jumping about 6 feet in the air, trying to get out of the bathroom door (which was closed), and I vaguely remember seeing a bright light through the door cracks.

::VINNY'S NOTE:: This last paragraph all happened within a minute. I was trying to replay it in my mind and it seemed so much longer but in reality it wasn't. If you wonder about the sound she was talking about, it's comparable to a roller coaster going into a loop. But that's not a sound you want to hear in your home...**

Next thing I do is look straight down at the towel I had laid down in the tub (because it was wet from having just taken a shower) and I heard nothing but destruction for about 4 minutes. I felt pressure all around me, and I was gripping Vinny's hand with all my might and covering my head with the other arm. I felt things being thrown around and heard so many big, metal things hitting other things. It was so... much bigger than me. I felt so minuscule. As I'm staring at the pink towel, all I can think is, "please let it pass, please let it pass." And for a second it seems to let up, but then it continued. And as it did, I felt rain drops and wind. And that's when I lost it. That was the moment. I started crying and screaming. I was in the downstairs, center room of the building. I had upstairs neighbors and there was no longer an upstairs. Shit had to be bad. I bawled. I could hear Vinny telling me, "It's ok, it's ok." I yelled, "no it's not! Noooo it's not ok!!" Then he said, "I love you!" and I really thought I was going to die. Literally. And I thought I was saying it for the last time... "I love you too." And as it continued for what felt like forever, Vinny said "Count to 300" and I said "I don't want to" but he counted anyway. I said, "I have to call my mom!" and started trying to dial her number. It wouldn't go through and I felt my heart sink. I wanted to say good bye before I died. I was still crying and the tornado finally seemed to let up. I asked Vinny, "is it over?" and he insisted that we continue counting. I let him continue to count as I threw up.

::VINNY'S NOTE:: Okay so I had the wonderful above view...I mean that I was on top of Maribel. The only thing I wasn't covering on her was her head but her hand was covering that. After that awful sound of the roller coaster came the metal clashing. I had no clue what was being thrown around but my mind kept going at a million miles per hour. I was thinking that no matter what happened, Maribel was going to be safe. I was worried about something landing on me, something piercing me or the wind was going to pick me up. So to cover base, I gripped the faucet on the bathtub like there was no tomorrow. So I was holding the faucet, watching the ceiling get ripped off and then seeing the sky. Feeling the wind and rain all of a sudden was the most frightening thing ever. The next thing to happen was the 2x4 hitting me in the back. I heard it hit the bathtub then me. That's when I told Maribel that I loved her. I was sure that something else was going to fly into the room and maybe knock me out or even kill me. So wanted to make sure the last thing I ever tell Maribel was that I loved her with all of my heart. I kept telling her that, I'm sure I was yelling it out as this was the loudest part of the tornado. A PVC pipe from somewhere came flying next and hit me in the hip. I was just taking the falling debris in stride now. I had hit my blissful acceptance of death now. Then I realized the wind had died down and I was thinking that things are going to be alright now. Maribel was bawling now and I told her "Everything will be ok. Just breath and don't worry." I was thinking that a tornado can only last a total of 5 minutes, so I made her count to 300. It was kind of to help us both. We managed to count to 200 before I decided that maybe we need to get moving.**

About a minute later, things seemed calm enough that I asked if we could get up. After insisting on waiting another minute, we finally looked up, and I had a break down. Everything was gone. The ceiling was gone, the door was gone and as I stood up you could see all of Alberta from my bathroom... which had been the center room of a two story building. I have never seen so much destruction in my life. It was straight out of the movies. There are no words to describe the situation. I tried calling my parents again and my stepdad answered, but I was completely incoherent. He put my mom on and I managed to spit out that we got hit by the tornado and she said she was getting in her car at that second from Jacksonville, FL and heading straight over here. As I'm getting off the phone with her, Vinny is yelling out if anyone needs help. We're calling out to people. There was a couple who lived on the second floor corner apartment who were stranded upstairs, calling out for help. Everywhere around it was dark, you could hear sirens, people yelling and crying.. people saying "Oh my GOD! Everything is GONE!" "Alberta is gone!" So many people were sobbing, myself included, and people were just in utter and total shock. People looking for people in the rubble... we were trying to climb through all the debris to get out of the apartment. It looked like a war zone.

::VINNY'S NOTE:: Before we could get up I had to take off the 2x4 that hit me. It had lodged in the bathtub wall and floor, so I had to force it out. I then had to, and I am not joking with you, rip the door off the hinges so we could get out of the bathroom. At this point I went straight into survival mode. Maribel and I were safe, so I need to see if the people in the immediate area were safe. I saw people and my heart could be at some peace knowing we weren't the only ones that made it. However, looking out of the bathroom where our bedroom wall was...well the only word to describe it was a war zone. It looked like bombs had went off everywhere.**

We didn't know where to go. I called out to my three cats and they were nowhere to be found. People had other people's pets....... this story is to be continued. It's very late and we need to get some rest, but we wanted to share at least this much of our story for now. Consider this part 1 of what will likely be a trilogy of a story. Good night. Maybe tonight will be better. We're very thankful to be alive, despite our sleepless nights.

This is just one of the harrowing stories coming out the areas hit worst by these tornadoes. If you haven't given to the Red Cross yet, I hope you will. Be sure to check out this post and this post to find out about special offers like free poems by request, free poetry chapbooks, and free sci-fi and fantasy ebooks for donors.

If you've already donated to the Red Cross or other relief organizations, and you find it within yourself to give just a little more, I'd appreciate it if you could Paypal a few bucks to Maribel personally, to help her and Vinny get back on their feet. Maribel's paypal address is mmartinez at crimson.ua.edu.