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Tornado survivors' stories: Flying Jeeps, moving earth, neighborhoods gone
[Updated at 9:57 p.m. ET] More than 280 people have been killed by the wave of violent weather that has swept across the South the past two days.
Survivors told of entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble and the terror of tornadoes ripping through their homes and businesses.
Here are the voices of some survivors:
Shortly before a massive tornado tore through her Tuscaloosa, Alabama, neighborhood on Wednesday, Lucy Arnold Sykes decided the weather was ominous enough to shelter her 3-year-old and 6-year-old children in a bathtub.
"I ran in with the kids and kind of joked (to my husband), 'Don't make fun of me for putting the kids in the bathtub, but I think this is serious,' " she told CNN's "The Situation Room" on Thursday. "He went out for one last look, and … he came back in with kind of a strange look on his face, and he said, 'It's right outside the door.' "
Have the tornadoes affected you? Share your stories, photos and video
The edge of the tornado passed across the street, but the wind tore apart a corner of the house, sent a tree crashing onto the roof, broke nearly all the windows and flipped her vehicle from the curb onto her front lawn.
The family is OK and stayed with friends on Wednesday night.
"(The kids) want to know when they’re going to go back home. I don't think that will be anytime soon. We're going to be looking for a new house," she said.
Brian Wilhite is an internist at Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa. He spoke to CNN on Thursday morning.
"It looked more like a Vietnam War site than a hospital. I know one physician who watched two people die right in front of him. There was nothing he could do."
And as for the city, where 36 people were known to have been killed as of Thursday morning:
"It looks like an atomic bomb went off in a straight line. It's probably close to a mile wide. There are areas where neighborhoods are completely gone."
Restaurant owner Gary Lewis described what he saw on 15th Street in Tuscaloosa for al.com:
"Everything I saw was gone. (McAlister's), major damage. No Taco Casa, no McDonald's, Mike and Ed's Barbeque, major damage. All those houses on that little lake are splintered. This thing (Wednesday) afternoon was a monster."
University of Alabama business student Michael Neese took cover in the stairwell of his apartment near 15th Street, according to Raycom News Network.
"It was like a white cloud just twirling in the parking lot next door to me. All of 15th Street is gone," he said.
University of Alabama student Adam Melton told The Crimson White he was in off-campus housing as the storm approached. "When it hit, the house lifted up off of us, and then a Jeep Cherokee came right over us and hit me in the head. We were underneath ... the Jeep on our knees and chest for the end of it. After we got hit, we pulled five or six people out, but it was gone. The house was gone."
Fred Jackson, 48, told The Tuscaloosa News what it was like in Tuscaloosa's Alberta community:
“The earth went to moving. Roots were pulling up. Everything was moving. The house is destroyed. We had to get out through a window. ... Alberta is gone. I've lost everything."
In Pleasant Grove, Alabama, Charisse Hudson on Thursday tried to figure out which pile of debris was her home. Flattened homes and downed trees littered her neighborhood, making it difficult to get her bearing. Eventually, she found her property.
"The only reason I knew this was my house was because my car was on top of it," she said, referencing the blue vehicle resting on a mound of rubble.
Before Wednesday's storm struck, the Hudson family left the home because the power had gone out.
“It was a blessed thing we did," Hudson said. "One of our neighbors said, ‘Well, I'm going to tough it out. I'm going to stay home.' " Asked whether she knew where that neighbor was Thursday, she answered, on the verge of tears: "I'm not sure."
Beth Varden took shelter during Wednesday’s storm with her husband in the basement of their Pleasant Grove home. The step was rare for her: She likes to sit outside to watch storms but said she sensed that Wednesday’s weather was different.
After the couple were in the basement, "the house was really shaking, and stuff started sucking out of the garage," she recalled Thursday. "You could hear everything moving upstairs moving around, and you hear a roar."
"After (the storm) left, we came out, and the first thing we saw was (a neighbor’s) house gone," she said.
Most of the houses in the immediate area were heavily damaged or destroyed, but hers was standing. She said she's struggling with guilt because her neighbors' homes weren't spared.
Rachael Mulder was asleep in her second-floor apartment in Duncanville, Alabama, just before the storm devastated the building. Her husband woke her up.
"I just remember him running in and grabbing me and saying, 'Honey, hurry! Get in the tub!' And we ran in the tub and took shelter, and probably 30 seconds later, it was just like so loud, and it was just like an earthquake, almost," she said.
When the storm passed, only the bathroom was standing. Her husband opened the bathroom door, "and we were outside."
Mulder, a nurse, said her husband called her to an injured woman in another damaged unit.
"I grabbed my first aid kit and ran down the stairs, and tried to help her. I tried to stop her bleeding and save her, but she was taking her last breaths, and she passed away right there," she said.
In Hueytown, Alabama, Jason Wilson gathered his family, including a daughter, 10, and son, 7, in an auto repair shop his family owns, according to al.com.
"We was fixing to go home and heard the siren. We took cover. It's about all you can do. And then it just blew the roof off."
In the northern Georgia town of Ringgold, where at least three people were killed in Wednesday's storms, Reba Self told CNN Radio that she and her mother are lucky to be alive. There were in the lower portion of a house when a storm hit, knocking the home off its foundation and causing a tree to fall through the roof.
"I don't know how we lived through it, but we did," she said Thursday.
In Smithville, Mississippi, Tammie Vaughn told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal how a twister swept into the town of 900.
"There was a lot of fog from the rain, and all of a sudden the fog disappeared, swept into the swirl of the tornado, and it sounded awful. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it."
In Tennessee, William Hart told the Chattanooga Times Free Press how he grabbed his 3-year-old son and dived for a small space between the foot of his bed and a dresser in their doublewide trailer home.
"I heard the roof rip off. The mirror fell over this way and was actually laying on me. And I was just thinking, 'That’s the end of it for the both of us.' I know the only reason I’m alive is by the grace of God. He was protecting me and my son."
Were you affected by the tornadoes? Share your images, stories with CNN iReport.
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I prayed a lot that the tornado would not hit Tuscaloosa but it still did. Why did Jesus do this to us? I guess I didn't pray loud enough.
TAMMY, I PRAY FOR YOU BECAUSE YOUR FAITH IS WAVERING , JESUS STILL LOVES YOU!!! THESE THINGS THAT ARE HAPPENING THEY ARE THE SIGNS OF THE END TIMES.THE BIBLE SPEAKS OF IT. EARTHQUAKES, GIANT WAVES, TORNADOES, DETRUCTION ON EVERY SIDE, I PRAY FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN HURT AND LOST FAMILY , I HAVE FAMILY IN TUSCALOOSA, WHO WERE AFFECTED BY THIS, PLEASE TRUST IN GOD, JESUS IS COMING BACK FOR US SOON. ASK HIM TO HELP YOU,
yeah...think about that. Prayer is BS
I used to pray that my father would come back and that my parents would love each other again. But he never came back and my family was broken. I guess Jesus doesn't like families either.
Jesus didn't do this. In Ephesians 2:2, Satan is called "the prince of the power of the air".
Face it, it's nature. It has nothing to do with imaginary men in the clouds wearing white robes. People cling to religion because it makes them feel secure. Notice how people praise "God" when good stuff happens but blame "Satan" for bad things. How convenient. LOL.
Tammy, my thoughts and prayers are with you the your community. When bad and horrifying things happen, it is important not to lose faith and to be thankful for what you still have.. your life. You are alive, and many people that went right through the middle of the tornado are miraculously alive. It is of my opinion that G-d did everything he could to save as many lives as possible.
jesus has better things to do. like prepare your gold mansion and stuff.
Jesus did not "do this to you".....humans did this to you by ignoring the warnings about global warming and how humans are affecting that. What is it gonna take for humans to understand that global warming and things like "el Nino", "la nina", are the reasons we are seeing these monster storms. God cannot protect us from ourselves! Maybe He is warning us to "get a clue"....a.nd until we do, HE is going to let these storms happen.
you heard it people. 230 dead and this is just a warning from our sweet loving god.
Tammy, I grieve with you at the destruction of your hometown. Know that God loves you enough to send a storm...He loves the people of Tuscaloosa enough to wake them up from a slumber and refocus them on Him, before the end is here. He is the Restorer of the breech-He will come to you quickly. Pray for restoration HIS way...not just rebuilding the American way. It isn't the end yet....you have been shown mercy. He knows your heart, and He is refining it-preparing it for the end. Things on the Earth are just beginning to get bad–they will get much worse. If He doesn't test you now, you may be found wanting later. Although it's painful right now, look back at painful situations in your life. Did they not make you stronger?? When you are weak, HE is strong, if you let Him. Self pity-though encouraged by many-is not the way to restoration. LEAN on Him like you never have before. I'm grieving with you sister...but He promised to take our weeping into laughing, our mourning into dancing, and our sadness into joy. Be encouraged! In this world, you will have tribulation, but He has overcome the world.
Tammy, one thing to realise, which almost all Americans fail to do, is that God did not promise anything in this world. He promised those of faith qould have eternal peace in the afterlife.
What I don't understand is why people who have so much faith is concerned about people dying. Didn't they go to a better place? Didn't they meet their GOD?
I wish those that lost loved one and who were affected by this NATURAL disaster all the best. Rebuilding after this kind of devastation will be difficult if possible at all.
Oh good night... Jesus had nothing to do with this. It's called NATURE people. We messed with the ozone, we messed with the oceans and we messed with the land...and we expect not to have consequences?? Not a sign of the end of times either... stop preaching, pick up some nails and a hammer and start helping. People need help, not to be lectured by your doom and gloom crap.
I've been hit by an EF-3 of religious mumbo jumbo. I'm devastated.
Tammy
God and Jesus did not do this to you, trust me. Just trust and them and they will bestow their blessings upon you.
to Kevin, Chesi, and Jesse James ESPECIALLY I hope you know that you are sakreligious and blasphemous. Now Jesus told us in Methew 5:43-4k, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of you Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." So therefore, I will pray for you, but let me tell you, they are not "imaginary men in clouds in white robes". If you want to proclaim your Atheism then do not come on this sight and put down those who believe or should I say know the truth. You can do that somewhere else, okay? I'll pray for you all for you do not know what you do.
I pray for all those who were effected by the storms and horrible tornadoes and love you all. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!!!
I met him around that time at Star Bucks, he was on a break.
kohethanolic:
Let me ask you, who did you see at Star Bucks (by the way it is spelt Starbucks)? If you are talking about My Redeemer (If you don't know Who that is, He is Jesus), then you are the almost as ignorant as Jesse James who commented earlier. Like I told him profess your Atheism somewhere else, okay. Oh yeah, I'll pray for you.
Did you ever get the feeling that everything you've been taught about the Bible and God is a bunch of crap? Prayer won't help you. Only YOU can help you. When you rebuild, add a safe room or basement. That's about all you can do.
Hattie:
It's not a bunch of "crap". This is what is wrong with the world today! No one can bunch together and pray for one another! If we could all just do that again and pray to Jesus, then it would be a much better world! Profess your hatred toward us somewhere else! You all sound so ignorant it is crazy. I'll pray for you.
tammy, the reason your prayers didn't work is very easy to explain. jesus hates you.
If God does exist, I doube (s)he is a supernatural magician who does requests. Imho, the real power of God is to work in people's lives. Weather, disease, forces fo nature, etc, are subject to chaos. I once heard that it is impossible for the three following statements to be true: God is love. God is in omnipotent. God is all-knowing. Either God loves us, knows everything but is powerless against certain forces, or God is all-knowing and all-powerful but doesn't care, or God simply doesn't know everything that happens.
Praying: how to think you're actually doing something, when in fact, you aren't doing anything but mumbling to yourself.
God created a balanced universe. When things go out of balance, nature corrects them. The sun shines on good and evil alike and the wind blows where it will. God gave you the freedom to decide how you will react to every event in your life, good or bad, and if you ask, He will give you the strength to get through this. Just have faith. What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger, if only you allow it. Don't sit around wondering why God didn't save you or wishing Jesus would show up and fix it all for you. Have the will to save yourself and God will take care of the rest.
@bo Quote simply you're a hypocrite. You tell other people not to come on here talking what they do or do not believe, yet you're sitting here preaching about God and Christianity. Who says you're right? Oh I forgot you know everything..
boallen sounds like the biggest rube on the planet. Stop telling people to go somewhere else to profess their Atheism. This is a public forum, and you are doing the exact same thing. You sound like a complete ass, and your spelling is horrible.
God could control nature if He wanted to, but He doesn't. Just like he could control you or me and make us love Him, but he doesn't. God did not cause this storm. God created the earth using scientific processes (including evolution) and because of how He created it, it is able to sustain itself without constant intervention. It's pretty brilliant really. But just like how we need rain to grow plants, sometimes too much rain happens and floods occur. God didn't cause it. The "devil" didn't cause it. It's just nature.
What God CAN do is he can make good come from this tragedy. Wherever you see people donating their time or money or offering food, clothing or shelter, THAT is God working. Keep praying for that. That is God in this world – no the storms.
Tammy, get your bible and turn to 2Timothy 3:1-5. And you will see what Jesus said would happen in the "last days". But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, 3 having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, 4 betrayers, headstrong, puffed up [with pride], lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away." It doesn't say HE is going to do this to you or I as a punishment or personal attack honey. Proverbs 3:5,6-Trust in God with all your heart and do no lean upon your own understanding. It's so easy for people to blame someone when bad things happen. And far too often they blame God. But don't forget the world is lying in the power of the wicked one, Satan the Devil. And he knows he only has a short time left before he will be no more so he's doing all he can to make people do exactly what MANY on this forum are doing, blaming God for bad things happening. I hate to read the comments some are making but it doesn't waver my faith or change my beliefs at all. Because the bible said there would be those kinds too. So just know that people that don't even know you are heart broken for ALL of you involved in the damage and yes, I pray for people I don't even know and I have faith in my prayers. 🙂
I wonder how the trees in Tumor's Corner did during the storm?
Too funny!
Why don't you get your facts before you make an idiotic comment. The TOOMER'S trees are located in Auburn. Tuscaloosa is located 3 hours northeast.
@Julie, I think it's a joke... Hence the laughing?
Tammy, you can yell all you want, when your time comes Jesus is not going to save you, this has been proven for over 2,000 years and you still don't get it, Jesus was just a human like everyone, don't be so ignorant and believe in this bs
As long as they don't blame me, i could care less what they think about god, etc. Why do you?
The phrase is "I couldn't care less."
@ leeintulsa – for the same reason a lot of people do – WE'RE SICK AND TIRED OF THEM SHOVING IT DOWN OUR THROATS!!! and trying to legislate "their" beliefs into our government. There are many different kinds of people in the US, not everyone believes as they do, but they want to legislate us into abiding by their BELIEFS! That's why.
Wow, Robby....read a book called Show Me God. It will blow your mind and is nothing but scientific equations to prove there must be a creator...not necessarily the Christian God, but a god nonetheless. For you to say Jesus was just a human...you are just refusing to believe history as his entire life account IS history that really happened, including people witnessing him after he rose from the dead. I guess normal old humans move giant stones that are guarded and get up and walk around after 3 days without anyone seeing them leave. I feel sorry for people who can't accept that this world is no accident. For this world to have came to be and actually have life on it that has sustained this long would be such an incredibly small opportunity to happen in the universe that it would mathematically never happen. Read the book.
If you would study the history of your religion you would find out that Jesus' divinity was VOTED on. Emperor Constatine, trying to hold an empire together, cast the deciding vote because that side was the more powerful. Had he voted the other way Jesus would not be considered divine. I would also like to remind you of 2 other details. Number 1; the christian religion has more blood on it's instutional hands than can ever be washed off. Number 2: as a pious Jew Jesus would consider the teachings of christianity as blaphemous and the teachers of chritianity as blasphemers. The West is christian because Emperor Constantine saw a meteor and saw it as a sign form god. They've even identified the crater created by that meteor.
@ Lauren – why are you soooooooo desperate to make other believe as you do – we live in a free country that has freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Why do you feel that we all have to think like you do???? No different than Shariah law.
excitizen, why is it that you don't think that there is someone greater than you, you believe that this creation does not have a creator! I don't get it!
You are so wrong...Im glad that I will be with Jesus when I perish. You on the other hand have a lot to learn. Jesus asks everyone 'how have you served me?" If we cant answer that question that GOD approves, then Satan will take you instead of Jesus. Read the bible, the gospel is the absolute truth. If you say you believe in GOD and dont believe the words of the bible, then you cant call yourself a "christian." I pray that Jesus touches your heart and changes it before its too late.
Thing is,you can be a good person and a positive influence without being religous.
so let me get rhis straight, the priest that molests hundreds of kids gets a golden ticket to heaven because he " accepts jesus as his lord and savior" but the guy who mentors inner-city kids and donates his time and money to those with less gets a one way ticket to flames for ever? bullcrap!
Ellen S – don't pray for me – I could care less what you think. Again! this is your BELIEF not mine. So damn me to hell in your mind if it makes your world make sense.
OK so if the bible is the "absolute truth" do you keep silent in church Ellen, do you keep your head covered in church? These are written in the bible as well.
@BBLTMPR-If you actually care to know the answer to that question, I will answer it. sorry if i'm answering sarcasm you don't really need. Keeping silent in church was a cultural thing–you have to understand the context of the time it was being written in and who it was being written to. Women, in that time, in that area, were uneducated, and kept that way by their culture. They stayed at home with the children, and knew little about scripture and history. Their husbands were the source of all of these things. Culturally, in church, women would sit on one side of the church, and men on the other. When the preacher would be speaking, women (being uneducated) wouldn't understand what was being taught...so they would yell across the pews, asking their husbands what the Man of God meant who was teaching. Paul then told them to be silent-and reading further-you can see he was talking about them asking their husbands questions at home, because they were disrupting the teaching.
As for head coverings, it doesn't command it...but it builds on it-saying that they are a "symbol of authority". The chain of Command in the heavenlies is God-Jesus-Men-Women. So, women are to wear head coverings as a SYMBOL they are under the authority of man when PRAYING AND PROPHESYING, so that the Angels (God's messengers) know they are in proper standing with God and man. Angels carry out God's biddings...and seeing a woman with a head covering, they could honor her as being under the correct authority, and DO as she prays on the Earth.
It's deep stuff, and requires knowledge of history...not just reading of a sentence. Sorry if you really didn't want to know, but here ya go if you did. 🙂
Sarah, in your history class did you read about the group of people who sat around deciding what 'gospel' was going to be in the bible? The discarded more than they included. Why? Because it didn't fit with the control they wanted to exert.
@excitizen: I am NOT DESPERATE to make others believe as I do. In fact, I rarely talk about God or Jesus with strangers and don't talk often about it with family either. Why? Because they know I'm a believer, and if they want to ask me questions or something, they are welcome to. I KNOW others have different faiths, and I'm FINE with that. It's the ATHEISTS and Agnostics who are so determined to get Christians to believe there is no creator. If Atheists and Agnostics can tell me that God doesn't exist, obviously they are stating it as fact, so I am going to then state that He does exist...as fact...based on historical accounts of Jesus who was NOT just a person, and more than 500 people witnessed him after he had risen.
Well said Lauren.
Tell it! Atheist want to say there isn't a God. I say prove it, because I can sure prove there is.. Just look at me. There is no creation without a creator.
@GB- i know about the process...it had more to do with continuity. if anything had any hint of false doctrine, they didn't include it. that doesnt mean other writings are not inspired by God-i've definitely read even modern day books inspired by God. The reality of this book standing the test of time says something for it's validity in God's eyes. Now if you don't believe in God, we don't have anything to discuss...if you do...i would look at what this book has been through-AND how much prophesy has been fulfilled from it's pages. The old testament prophesied of Jesus, and He fulfilled every prophesy–even down to not a bone being broken in His body after His death on the cross.
@ Lauren, 500 people saw David Blaine 'fly in the air, move an elephant, walk on water and live in a block of ice.......HE must be GOD because 500 people saw it. Whew, glad we cleared that up.
I agree with J. Santi. The major TV networks had no coverage of the destruction being done to the southern states and the people who live there. They should be ashamed of themselves. This tornado outbreak will go down in American history and our so called news networks missed it? I also had to switch to the Weather Channel to see what was going on down there. They did an amazing job! CNN and the American people... here is a news flash for you. Obama is the President of the United States. The birth certificate issue is dead. Move on. I did not vote for Obama but I am certainly not going to listen to any more of this nonsense about his birth certificate.
Locally, the channels preempt everything for storm coverage. 1 way to tell it's Spring in OK – set your dvr for your favorite shows and get nothing but two hours of radar footage.
@Sherri, You can't rely on the major TV networks for the weather. We have great local meteorologists here in Montgomery and the viewing area, that kept us up to date on all the storms, which direction they were heading, how many more minutes you have until you need to take cover for a certain area. I can not say enough good things about the WSFA storm team. They were on all day and night, keeping us informed of the impending storms. The local news teams and weather teams should be commended for their outstanding coverage of yesterday's storm. The tragic part is the size of the storms that contributed to the high death toll. It is truly sad and unbelieveable to see the destruction it caused here in AL.
If CNN is coving all the damage and death and destruction now... WHY weren't they covering it then when it was happening? Also.. some of these news anchor chicks bug me so bad... they look like cheap painted up tramps.
For such a major weather story, the national news should have been there. In the 1960s, national news was more reliable for weather, wars, and all sorts of news than the local news, which was all snuff films of local fires. Now, national news is terrible: they fired most of their reporters, and replaced them with overpriced talking heads. My uncle was a reporter who was fired in the 1970s from a news network with a lot of other reporters at that time; after that era American news all but disappeared. Get rid of high salaries in the national T.V. networks, and hire back the drove of reporters who used to follow everything from elections to weather to regional interests, and really report on America.
The church wants you to believe so they can make money and keep on abusing kids, the church and all of their "religious" people laugh at all of you including the pope, what a shame and disgrace for human kind.
Sounds like you have a lot of pint up anger toward God, churches, and anyone who believes differently from you. I don't see anyone writing disrespectful insults to what you believe. I'm gonna predict that you will come back with some silly remark because you are full of pride and arrogance. Go ahead, prove me right!
@ RUEL – the right wing Christians want to pass laws that would make everyone in the US abide by their beliefs – absolutely no different from Shariah law – different beliefs, different rules, but the same kind of belief that everyone should live by their rules. This is exactly why there is a separation between church and state, because governments can compromise with many different people's beliefs, but religion can't. I don't want to have to live by their version of morality. I have my own thanks and it works fine for me and I'm sure that you do too. I don't feel the need to shove my "rules" down your throat, why on earth should you do so to me???
@excitizen – we're on the same page, trust me. Maybe you're younger than i am. I grew tired of peeing in that wind long ago. All we can do is vote and hope sanity will prevail. Shoving your beliefs down there throat is no better than what they do. Rise above, brother.. Or sister..
@excitizen-I guess you are talking about Catholicism? I am a Christian, not a Catholic, just a Christian, no denomination, and we do not shove our beliefs down anyone's throat. It is everyone's free will to either believe or not. I would never agree to any law, no matter what religion, that would force people to adhere to a certain belief. I may want to spread the gospel, but in the way Jesus said to, not at the end of a gun.
Amen
Last night was one of the most horrendous misuses of the airwaves I can ever remember. Birther blather, Royal Wedding drivel all while hundreds of Americans were dying in storms and millions were potentially facing dangerous conditions. Oh, it wasn't just CNN, but I guess I expected more from a network with 31 years experience. And then even after Anderson Cooper talked about the weather, he went back to Obama's birth certificate. You guys have grossly overestimated the interest in that story outside political junkies and conspiracy theorists and grossly underestimated the value of when CNN used to stand for Cable News Network and actually showed live news and not blowhard talk shows disguised as news. FAIL.
MY goodness.....CNN is not a weather channel or local channel. They did do coverage of the storms "in the south", in between other "national news".. What else should they have done? If you were in an area where these storms were going to hit, your local channels pre empted all shows (American Idol, etc.) for non stop weather coverage. Turns out....even though they predicted these storms would pass through Atlanta, it never happened....after they scared the hell out of me. I am hugely grateful they did not come through my area...... but I am scared....it is definitely global warming that is causing these montster storms....as frequently as we have been seeing them all over USA and world. I suppose someone is going to "blame" Al Gore for that. LOL.
You may call it global warming until it's in your backyard...then...you will cry out to God
I agree. The national news networks should fire those overpaid talking heads and hire back the droves of reporters who actually report on real news. Remember that the complaint about the Dept. of Homeland Security that America faces lots of natural disasters, much more so than terrorism? National news used to report on major weather stories. It's time that national news meant NATIONAL news again. An anchor used to be the person who gathered together all the reports from the hundreds of reporters and read the most important news; and weather often IS the most important news in America. Since the reporters were fired in the 1970s, most of the struggles of real people have been ignored. The media is very right-wing (just think: they never report on the needs of the middle class, and they are all rich), and this means that to them, most of America is not worth reporting on.
my thoughts and prayers are with all of you. may you find the courage and strength through the support and love of family, friends, and strangers to cope and start anew.
Amen.
@ lee... What a stupid comment
Lol. I assume you mean the one about religion? Why do you care what other's believe or spend their money on? Gonna change them? Good luck with that
So turn it off! Turn off the t.v.! That's the news, that's all, good night! They want you to be afraid when it's convenient for them. They want you to be clueless otherwise. Until we turn it off, network news is going to continue to be like this. Who holds them accountable? No one. So turn it off.
Why don't you "believers" go to your local church and leave your children there and tell the father to take care of them for a couple of hours, you know that he's going to abuse them. And you still pray on the same church were they molest and abuse children, I don't know who's worst, the abuser or you people that pray for them.
ROBBY, if you have had a terrible experience with a CHURCH, don't take it out on every other church. I have done the same thing for years. If people want to "believe" in something, weather it be GOD or budda or praying to the trees, let them be. Everyone finds security and peace in different things. If you were involved in this storm you would understand how terrifying it was. I live in NORTH GA and i have a 9 month old son i was too afraid to put down because our sirens were going off every three to five mins. I am not a religious person, but like they say, when death comes knocking at your door you seek GOD. it's how it is. period end of story. It will come and no matter what you do or say or pray, what ever is going to happen WILL HAPPEN.... but it never hurts to feel protected by praying. I would rather live life as if there were a God and die to find out there is not, than live as if there is not God and die to find out there is. TO EACH IS OWN.
No one is interested in your beliefs and you are not interested in theirs. Don't take attention away from what is truly important...these poor people affected by the tornado.
well isn't that a way to stay ignorant-don't care about anyone else's beliefs. How did you get yours then??
@Sarah...Shutup, church lady.
i feel bad for the people killed in the tornado and did the university get torn down?
No...the university is fine.
If you wonder how a God of love would allow such tragic things to happen, Go to youtube & search for 'COSMIC CONFLICT'
don't need to – it's weather!!! and it was predicted, but not by YOUR god – it was predicted by hundreds of scientists – it's called global warming, which increases parcipitation and intensifies storms. They said this would happen and it is – no fairy tales about it – pure science.
Or you could figure out that man created god, and the storms are just weather.
God creates dinosaurs. God kills dinosaurs. God creates man. Man kills God. Man creates dinosaurs. Dinosaurs eat man? Greatest quote ever written.
This is just the Sign of the Times! the Creator is destroying the World, there is devastation all over the Globe, no where to run, no where to hide, he will Manifest and all those who don't know him will suffer lost!
I think if there is a God and "the Creator is destroying the World" he could do better than a tornado! Even the latest earthquake and tsunami that killed like 10k people wasn't a "lot" of people when you look at the bigger picture. Now if they had killed millions, then that's an "act of God"
So what your saying is that the killed and injured deserved it? You are not human.
What's funny is fundies have been preaching "it's the end of the world" for well....since religion came about.
I've only been around 35 years, but I know I've heard "it's the end times!" from every preacher on tv in those 35 years. Probably make more money when people think they have nothing to lose. "10%? I'm giving 100% of my welfare check to the church...it's end times, so what do I need it for!"
You make God out to be some hateful, angry, violent being. You are wrong. God is love, peace joy, hope and will never fail you. THIS IS THE WORLD, and we have BAD WEATHER sometimes.... you are completely bonkers if you think this is Gods judgement. If this were the end times, YOU would be dead for LYING TO PEOPLE. go read the bible before you open your BIG mouth and make your self look incompetent.
@AmyLanders- sweetie, Jesus is all those things, but He is also a man of war.The whole Bible talks about it. You will be very surprised then, when armageddon starts, and Jesus comes riding on a horse, his robes dripping with the blood of the nations...because He is RIGHTEOUS in His judgement. WE ALL DESERVE HELL. If there was no law, there would be no righteousness. If there was no judgement, there would be no salvation. If he didn't die a BRUTAL death, our blood would be required for payment of what we have done wrong. It's the law-an eye for an eye-a tooth for a tooth--blood for blood. Our law agencies even enforce it. IT'S REALITY. If we don't receive His blood as payment for our sins, our blood is then required as payment. It's free. He is peace, and joy, and love...but He is also JUST. He's not going to return as a baby in a manger, or a man hanging on a cross-but as a jealous bridegroom, claiming those who have claimed Him, and slaughtering those who haven't. THIS IS THE JESUS OF THE BIBLE. I expect people to be offended at this post-Jesus offended more people than followed Him...but we need to start preaching the REAL JESUS. He's coming back as a JUDGE...and he will EXECUTE judgement on both the righteous and the wicked. His judgments will be right, and everyone will have no excuse or anything to say against Him in that day, for all will be revealed for everyone to see. Would it be right for a judge to set a serial murderer free if he really hadn't changed?? NO! His life would be required for the lives he took. So it is with Jesus....His mercy ALWAYS outweighs His judgements, but if mercy requires that the life of someone else be taken, it will be. He is FULL of mercy....and His compassions never fail-even in His judgements.
If there is a God, why would a God want to Kill anybody? Does not make any sense to me.
I think you need to learn the truth, and it ain't what you are preaching.
@Sarah...I am quite sure that you deserve Hell more than just about anyone here, you idiot.
Matthew 25:32-46 shows God as an angry Judge, but for these reasons: not feeding, housing, clothing, or giving shelter to the poor, not healing the sick, and not visiting or releasing captives. And God says they will say, when did I do that? By voting for people who will cut Medicare, housing, food, etc. Yes, God is angry, and God says why. If you do not vote to tax the rich, there won't be money to help rebuild.
@Sarah....Why exactly do we all deserve hell? That just sounds like the most made up pile of BS. You have absolutely no mind of your own if you can say those things with a straight face and think they sound reasonable. So when this carpenter turned Judge comes to exact his punishment for me, for all the bad things I have done, the end result is I deserve hell. I'm no Saint(irony intended), but the worst he'd get me for is stealing post its from work now and then and maybe looking at an occasional adult website. Yeah, you're right I see how that would make me deserving of hell.
@leeintulsa, I live in OKC and I know excatley what you mean by the weather people ruining our shows. If there is a tornado in Jenks we hear about it in Oklahoma city.But I have to admit it can be scary here sometimes but as Okies we know what to do.
Yes we do:-)
Ohhhh, now we don't want to interrupt the SHOWS for the safety of the rest of the PUBLIC, DO WE? Sad when your sense of what's important is governed by who wins American Idol..
@ Tammy: don't lose your faith in God. We as humans can't understand His thoughts or ways. Just rest and know that God is in control even when we think we are. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who have been affected by the storms. @ Robby, do you have to be so malicious? Where is all of your malice coming from? I agree with you that some churches are abusive, are corrupt, and are disgraceful, but some are striving to do the right thing. We are all flawed and imperfect. I guarantee, if you stared a Tornado in the face, you would be calling on a Higher Power too; whether it be God, Jesus, Allah, Budah, etc.
If there were only a few churches that were corrupt and self-serving, I wouldn't have a problem. But the fact is, the MAJORITY of churches are corrupt and self-serving! The MAJORITY of religions were created strictly for the purpose of profit! Once the catholic church saw the $$ they could make, it spread like wildfire! Same with all the other religions like scientology, etc. Prove me wrong! Have you seen the vatican?? How much $$ did that cost??
@Nancy- You're right-anything man tries to control ends in corruption. Let's get out the mindset of the catholic church, the lutheran church, the whatever church-and focus on JESUS. He doesn't deserve the blame for what people paste His name on that misrepresent Him. Do we even know who He was and IS anymore??? Or do we just have religious debates over what men have done in His name??? Did THOSE men know Him?? Or did they just paste His name on something that had nothing to do with anything He stood for?? Let's get back to the roots of WHO HE IS, and then we can redefine "Christianity" as it was originally intended by CHRIST, and not men who distort Him.
The old "no atheist in a foxhole" fallacy. It's an empty claim by theists to make them feel superior.
@WOW-actually, we should try to search out His ways, even knowing we can never fully understand them. "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search it out."
@Wow...No. I don't call on a higher power. I call on myself because that's all I can depend on.
Jesus asked us to follow the teachings of "his father". Jesus actually never claims to be the "Son of God" it is a misconception, Jesus calls God "his father", but really, if you believe in God then we are all his children right? The apostles made the mistake when writing scripture to include the fallacy that Jesus was the son of God. Disputable is all I'm saying. It's probably something that has been misinterpreted over time. Point is, they aren't the teachings of Christ, they're the teachings of God; teachings that Jesus passed on. If that's what you believe in anyway. Ergo, Jesus is not God, stop confusing it.