The morning after the destructive F4 tornado leveled Tuscaloosa, the community crawled out of the rubble and went to work rebuilding.

One memory from the morning after the tornado that stands out above most others is driving through the darkness on McFarland Boulevard as I headed into work. There were no street lamps, no lights from area businesses or houses. Just oppressive blackness. I'd been without cable since the tornado first appeared behind James Spann on the television screen and cell service was limited to text so I was completely unaware of the massive damage.

Our studios are located on Skyland which was covered in darkness as well. There were a few lights on at the station thanks to our back-up generator, but nothing like what I was used to seeing.

Again, there was no cable service or internet but we had one land line. For hours and days, we took phone call after phone call and slowly settled into a comfortable new normal.

In the video below are a few of those phone calls including comments from Mayor Maddox, James Spann, those who needed help and those who answered their call.

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