Catching Up Part 2

As I told you all yesterday, there has been nothing regular about these last few weeks. In fact, complete and total chaos is starting to feel like the new norm! Today alone I have conducted massive research for a paper, finished a paper, started another paper, cleaned house, started supper, fixed lunch, walked the dog, and fought traffic on Hardy Street in Hattiesburg, MS. All of this took place before 2pm this lovely Friday... and Fridays are supposed to be my day off.

But now it's time to catch up on the other thing that has thrown us off lately.

February 10th, 2013.

Jeremy (also known as the hubs, my husband) and I were en route back home to Hattiesburg from his grandparents' house when I got a phone call from my Mama.

"Where are you?"
"About an hour from home, why?"
"Just pull over. There's a tornado where you live and I don't want you guys driving into it."

Now I knew the weather was bad, but I didn't think it was that bad. We had a friend at our place washing his clothes, so I called him.

"What's the weather doing?"
"Sirens are going off. We're (the friend and our cat. Very thoughtful of him to save the cat) in the bathroom, the weather is terrible."

I immediately began to panic. I told the hubs "stop for now, but get us home." We pulled over very briefly, but once the rain subsided we bolted for the Burg, the loving name for Hattiesburg.

As Jeremy is driving, both of our cell phones are being blown up. My mom, my stepdad, my dad, all on my phone. His dad, his grandparents, his sister, his co-workers, all on his phone. I turned by car into a mobile BellSouth station and answered all the calls with "yes, we're fine, what's happening there?"

My parents kept calling me, sending me text messages, and sending me links on Facebook to what we would not be able to imagine until we saw it ourselves. An EF-4 Tornado tore through the neighborhoods surrounding us, our apartment complex, then jumped over the highway and completely devastated Hattiesburg and Petal. News reports of complete devastation on the Southern Miss campus were churning in my stomach since I couldn't see it for myself. As we approached 49 South in Hattiesburg, we were redirected though non-affected residential areas to get to our apartment.

First pulling into our apartment complex, I had no idea what to expect. Entire roofs from neighboring buildings were gone. Pieces of billboard from the highway mixed in with the debris of annihilated houses, roofs, cars, trees, power lines and more. Thankfully, our building was untouched, with the exception of a tree branch on our neighbor's car. We were fine, but we had no power.

Long story short, we camped out to candlelight and an ice chest full of meat from our freezer. We waited for the news reports to roll in, we called family, and I mourned at the devastation bestowed to my beloved Southern Miss Campus.
Here are some videos and pictures of the devastation. Though it has been almost two weeks since this devastating tornado blasted its way through Hattiesburg and Petal, prayers are still welcome.


What happened next was a beautiful thing, but I'll tell you that later.

Elam Arms. USM former residence hall, roof gone, windows blown out, part of the building destroyed.

My apartment complex, this building took the most damage. Not livable, front of roof gone, side of the building gone, on the verge of collapse. All residents were relocated. 

Southern Miss from Elam Arms. Windows blown out, 75 trees along the front of campus, gone. What was once shrouded in beautiful trees is now completely open and can be seen straight over to the 49 south Highway.

An apartment building in my complex. Now condemned and beyond repair. No roof, water damage, massage structural damage, on the verge of collapse. 

Debris from a billboard and the debris from an apartment roof.