Forget about the whole rise in the intensity/insanity level of the Alabama-Auburn football rivalry; the state of Alabama has a whole helluva lot more important things on the hearts and minds of its citizens Wednesday evening.
For those unaware, the state has been pounded by a massive storm system that has produced dozens of tornadoes and, according to the early reports, the damage has been devastating. In particular, the city of Tuscaloosa -- and home of the University of Alabama -- has been hit by what could only be called a storm of epic proportions.
Tuscaloosa’s mayor, Walter Maddox, appeared on The Weather Channel shortly after the storm plowed through his city, and said that the “devastation is ‘catastrophic’ and parts of city ‘have been obliterated’.” Maddox added “please pray for us.”
On his Twitter feed, Aaron Suttles, Senior Recruiting Analyst for the Alabama Rivals site, TideSports.com, wrote that “I don’t mean to overstate, but it looks like bombs went off. Nothing left standing. Complete rubble. Cars upside down and caved in.”
Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News wrote on his Twitter feed simply: “Scale of destruction in Tuscaloosa is very bad.”
Based on the early reports, the loss of property will be massive. What’s uncertain at this point in time is what cost, if any, there will be in terms of lives lost, although initial reports indicate that there was one fatality caused by the storm. The photos and the video shot on the scene, though, paint a sobering picture of it taking a miracle for there not to be many, many more:
It appears -- and not that it even remotely matters in the grand scheme of things -- that Bryant-Denny Stadium suffered no damage due to the storm, but videos that have emerged in the aftermath show the powerful tornado that apparently caused the devastation in the city passing in the background of the football home of the Tide. For a high-quality video of that event, click HERE. Click on the rain-blurred clip below for additional footage of the tornado passing behind the stadium.
Needless to say, our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Tuscaloosa and all the others across the South who have been impacted by this devastating series of storms.
UPDATED 10:44 p.m. ET: Heartbreakingly, Mayor Maddox, by way of the Tuscaloosa News, has confirmed that at least 15 people have been killed in his city as a result of the tornado. All told, at least 31 people in the state of Alabama have lost their lives.
As for the university and its campus, the News writes that “power outages at the school are widespread, but they have no reports of structural damage to buildings on campus after a storm swept through the city.”
Additionally, the same storm system that tore through Alabama is wreaking havoc in parts of Georgia and Tennessee. Fatalities are also being reported in those states as well.
Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.