4.27.11
My fiance and I watched the weather broadcast and saw footage of a massive tornado headed straight for what we thought to be our friends' apartment. We were frantic to get in touch with them and make sure that they had found their way to a safe place. Confident that we were not in immediate danger, I dismissed text message warnings from my sister. It was moments after we lost power to the apartment when I knew I could hear the tornado. I told my fiance that I could hear it and he assured me that we were not near its path. As the rumble increased, we began to feel the pressure in our ears. When we sprinted to the bathroom, the tornado sucked the water from the toilet as we passed. We knew it was on top of the apartment and the pressure was almost unbearable. When we felt that it was safe to open the door of the bathroom, we explored the apartment to find some damage to the walls. "That must have been some strong wind," my fiance said when we found the AC unit pushed into the apartment. When we opened our door, we were shocked to find that no more than a few apartments remained in our entire complex. We heard sirens, car alarms, fire alarms, and screaming. We ran to the apartments across from ours to help neighbors emerge from the rubble. We gathered pillows and blankets for those who couldn't stand; tennis shoes for those who couldn't emerge from their apartments bare-footed. My fiance carried an injured man to the EMS hub on a closet door with the help of other neighbors who were also fortunate enough to have the ability to help.
We lived in Alberta City in Arlington Square Apartments within the direct center of the tornado's path. We were an apartment assignment away from being taken by this horrible tornado and feel truly blessed to be located within B5, which was up against a retaining wall. The next days were spent gathering the belongings that we value the most and carrying them in shopping carts to our cars parked on Helen Keller almost a mile and a half away from the apartment. We lost our apartment, our furniture, and our vehicles, but we are so blessed to have belongings to gather and strength enough to gather them. Our hearts are broken for those less fortunate.
