November 15th 1989

Well today it was 20 years ago that the F4 Hit Huntsville on Airport Rd.   I was not in Huntsville during this time.   I was away at college just south of Birmingham in Shelby County. My account of the events that unfolded are from the perspective of a college freshman away from home.  We were under tornado warnings that day as well in the college town where I went to school.  I remember when all the aftermath was unfolding in Huntsville I had just sat down in the cafeteria with some friends for dinner when the tornado siren went off.  We were all told to go to the nearest safe building which was the dorm I lived in. We sat packed in the 1st floor of the dorm hall for a couple of hours until the all clear was given that we could go to our rooms.   I was a pledge in a sorority at the time and it was our meeting time.  Just before our pledge meeting was to start we learned that Huntsville had been hit.  After my pledge meeting I tried to contact my family and was unable to get through because the phone lines were tied up.    I finally did get through that night about 5 hours after the tornado had hit.  My family was uninjured thank goodness.  At the time I did not know where my family was or if they were okay.  I would later learn that my dad was away from the office and was told there was a Tornado on the ground at Haysland Square. He looked outside and said no not at Haysland it is north of there so he then drove north on the parkway back to his office on Lily Flagg to send his staff home.  His office was just south of the area damaged.

  The local paper had asked for stories from survivors of the tornado for the 20th anniversary.  I know a number of people who were affected by the tornado.

Another friend of mine has posted his account of those events here. One of those people is my best friend from high school and if it were not for her experience I would have never met my husband. She would also serve as my Matron of Honor in 1992 when I got married. Her account of the events are not in the paper.  So in a round about way the tornado is responsible for me meeting and marrying my husband.   I was introduced to him a number of months after the tornado happened.