Tornado Apocalypse of Alabama

April 27, Wednesday

Today is my mother's birthday. Today is also the day that the tornadoes wreak their havoc upon my little part of the world in Huntsville, Alabama, along with other states around us, but Alabama got it the worst. Somewhere between 4-6 PM, the power cuts out along with everyone else's in Madison County and surrounding areas. My roommates are Michael and Joanna Sylvester, and my girlfriend, Jacki, also lives with me. My name is Mehdi Fakhrahmad, and this is my Tornado Apocalypse Journal.

Day 1 (Thursday)

The day begins with a bowl of cereal, so we can use up the milk which will go bad before the day would be out. We had learned the night before, by listening to the radio, that the Publix grocery store was open. Using traffic signals as four-way stops, we made our way to the busy store. There was very little to choose from, considering the circumstances.

When we came back home, Michael and Joanna went to check on her parents. After they left, we got the bright idea that we could cook by building a fire in the backyard, even though we knew fires were illegal to make within the city limits but heck! We were in a state of emergency according to the radio. I guess video didn't kill the radio star since at this moment in time, information was so precious. We also learned that 90 transmission lines were down and they only had about 12 of them back up.

At this point, we were being told we wouldn't get electricity back til about 5-7 days from now. So walking around the neighborhood, me and Jacki picked up various wood and brought it back to the house. Digging a 2-inch deep hole in the backyard and lining bricks around it, we had ourselves a fire pit. All we needed was something to cook on. Scavenging the neighborhood again, we picked up 2 curtain rods, a metal broom, and a pipe. Using some wire and the rack from our oven we basically had a make-shift grill. We then cooked up hot dogs and chicken that would be going bad soon.

We ate like kings, ending the night with a long game of UNO with everyone, so the day hadn't been too bad. As I was laying in bed with Jacki, I heard an explosion from the neighborhood. Getting up to see what it was, I hit my eyebrow on a shelf, cutting it. So thats how my day ended.

Day 2

Slept in to about 11:30 PM, got out of bed and my neck was in a lot of pain, I couldn't really tilt it to the left, and my shoulder hurt along with it. After me and Jacki ate some granola bars, we headed out to get my mom. She still had some chicken that was still frozen, so getting more wood, we cooked it on our make-shift grill. Michael, who knew people in the Police Force, got a call, giving him a heads up that the Sheriff would be coming over tomorrow to give us a $1000 fine for building a fire within city limits because of a neighbor calling us in. SO, we got rid of the evidence, and my mom with her gardening skills, made it look as if we had never even touched that backyard.

After playing UNO once more, we got in Michael's car and we drove to the nearest city, Decatur, to eat something for dinner. Michael and Joanna paid for us since the rest of us weren't going to have an income for the coming week. The only place open at 6:30 PM was Applebee's because other businesses had been encouraged to close down early by law enforcement because of the dusk to dawn curfew that had been placed on several surrounding areas.

Coming back home, we found the grill that Jacki's mom had brought for us, along with $11 inside it, sweet! Also, this whole time my phone hadn't been working but it worked in Decatur, and I found out my married friends, Alyssa and Thor, were staying at Alyssa's parent's house, and they had two generators. Alyssa invited Jacki and I over the for the next day, so we could take showers, YAY! After reading a book by candle light, and killing a giant fly in my room, I went to sleep looking forward to the next day.

Day 3

Still have a massive crick in neck, so I stayed home while Jacki, Michael, and Joanna went to eat at TGI Fridays, one of the few places open in our city. So while they were gone, I started this journal, sitting outside, shirtless bathing in the sun. They came back with Hayley, and she told me that Sam's Club has gas, so me and Jacki left, and put $20 in the tank and headed over to Alyssa's parent's house.

Taking a shower felt amazing, and we charged the laptop up, so we could watch an episode or two of anime later that night. Alyssa's mom gave us charcoal, lighter fluid, and spackel because we needed it for a room we were painting in the house. Upon returning home, we found that someone had dropped of spackel, brushes, drop cloth, and cooking pans. We called everyone we knew, and couldn't for the life of us figure out who gave us the stuff we needed. Mom came over and we all went out to TGI Fridays.

Not too bad of an apocalypse since random places are open in the city, definitely not as bad as I expected.. My phone is actually having better service today, but Verizon has been working for everyone the entire time, so I'm definitely switching when this is all over. Later that night, my girlfriend rubbed bengay on my back and neck, and somehow we winded up getting it on other places of our body...not too pleasant, good way to end the day!

Day 4

Spent the day painting the bathroom and hallway, then me and Jacki headed over to Alyssa's parents. One of their generators had blown, so I had to take a shower in their camper, still hot water was nice. Found out parts of the city had power, and my work called saying that I had work the next day, awesome! With the laptop charged, my girlfriend and I have 2 episodes of Supernatural ahead of us tonight =).

WELLLL, electricity just came on right in the middle of watching it! Weird thing is, because of a power line down a few houses down, the other side of the street doesn't have power, lol. Hmmm and also, we never even got to use the grill! =/