Two were killed in Limestone County, in north Alabama.
One died in Tuscaloosa, in west Alabama. The location wasn’t in the direct path of a tornado, nevertheless a college student died saving his girlfriend. He held up a retaining wall, a wall, so she could get out of the way.
John's mom told our team this morning he always wanted to be an Alabama swimmer, and he always wanted to be a hero. He accomplished both.
— Anna Rae Gwarjanski (@annaraeoflight) April 29, 2014
Greater love hath no man than this.
That story … I look at my students and picture this and it is deeply, emotionally hard to conceive. And because of it we are now finding out about how a seemingly incredible young man lived through his last, selfless act. It is most assuredly a moving, tragic, and chivalrous tale. You can’t imagine what his family must be feeling. For his mother to stand in front of his friends the next day and say things like that. What a lady. Maybe that’s where John Servati got his character from. Maybe it will remain an inspiration to us.
Meanwhile the local media, after marathon coverage last night, is getting ready for another round this evening. (Update: The weather wimped out here, but the Gulf Coast got walloped with rain. The flooding they received, feet of it in places — helped lessen the energy in the atmosphere that was expected to feed into more potentially dangerous weather here.) And one of our other best assets, the hardworking line crews at Alabama Power, are out in their trucks and they will work until the work is done. They’d restored power to 80,000 customers before noon today. They never get enough credit, so here’s a dollop more.
The pictures rolled in. The house fires, the wide flooding in some locations, the home that had a roof blown off by lightning.
And, these days, there is drone footage. I need a drone.
I grew up just a few minutes from there. Also, I need a drone.
Other stories give us a sense of the wide range of the tornado outbreak. And perspective:
John L. Johnson said the couple lives with their daughter. During the storm, the family huddled in the downstairs hallway with John L. covering his daughter and wife.
While their house, which recently received new siding and a roof following last year’s hail storm, is considered destroyed by the American Red Cross, Ruth Johnson said she can’t help but feel lucky.
“You can’t get angry at mother nature,” said Johnson. “My family is alive. I feel blessed.”
