The Day of the Tornadoes
The Day of the Tornadoes
By Elton Camp
April 27, 2011 is a day we’ll long recall
When natural disaster on Alabama did fall
The weather bureau warned us days before
And nobody ignores the forecasts anymore
Every family decides on the best place to go
And listens carefully to the NOAA radio
The Huntsville TV stations see storm afar
With the wonderful help of Doppler radar
The outbreak began at three in the morning
A few hours later than the original warning
As the frightening day continued to progress
We saw that we were in for a terrible mess
The dire announcements came at a fast clip
As across the state many tornadoes did skip
By later afternoon, desperation had set in
The authorities hardly knew where to begin
The meteorologists all did seriously allow
Get into your safe place and please do it now
And because of the excellent job that they do
Deaths from tornadoes recently have been few
But in some cases, in order to still be around
It was essential that people go underground
Without such protection it’s hard to stay alive
When one is hit by a tornado rated F-4 or F-5
Shelters like that are rarely needed so are few
People had make out with what they could do
The tornadoes struck with a roar and a grind
And of houses only rubble was then left behind
It was something we saw over thirty years before
Once again, there were injuries and deaths galore
Then the ferocious winds had no mind to decide
Good, bad, old, strong, young—all of them died
That day that from survivors’ memory won’t fade
Also how people gave to each other needed aid
The area will recover, though it seems it can’t be
Due to the devastation from nature’s killing spree
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