Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — The sky was dark, the power was out and the wind drowned out the wail of the warning sirens in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Abbie Otto, a 2008 graduate of Bellevue West High School and a junior at the University of Alabama, took cover Wednesday with her roommate in her condominium's basement.
“All we heard was the storm, the wind,” Otto, 21, said. “It sounded like a train was coming toward our condo.”
“We just sat and held onto each other. ... We were praying. That's all you can do.”
Before the storm struck Tuscaloosa, a town of 83,000 people, Otto stepped outside to look at the skies. She was shocked to see the approaching tornado.
“I can't even describe how big it was,” she said. From her front yard, Otto saw airborne vehicles in the midst of the massive storm. “We knew that those were cars, but they looked like specks of sand.”
Otto's condominium is still intact, but the storm devastated areas of Tuscaloosa minutes from where she lives. “It's not even a five-minute drive (to where) everything is gone.”
The University of Alabama campus did not sustain significant damage, though power outages were widespread on campus and in the surrounding areas.
Otto drove Thursday to Montgomery, Ala., where her older brother is stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base. She plans to stay there through the weekend or until power is restored in Tuscaloosa.
“I'd grown up in the Midwest all my life, but I've never had to deal with anything like this before,” Otto said.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9580, katy.healey@owh.com
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