Jacksonville Tornado

[Huggy]

Teresa, I'm hoping that you, Jerry, your fur babies, and your home all survived tonight's tornado okay.  Please post when you can to let us all know.    Huggy

[Rebecca]

This is the first I have heard about a tornado
Hope everyone is safe

[Ragsmomma]

I knew they were predicting pretty heavy weather for the southeast but didn't realize that included tornados.  We started in with snow around 10 AM this morning.  It has switched over to sleet now but we're supposed to get up to a foot of snow.  We gave Rags fluids a bit earlier as I probably won't be able to get in there until Friday.  One less thing to worry about for him.  He ate and is sound asleep now.

Teresa, please let us know you are safe!!

Sue

[Huggy]

Sue, T posted on FB that she and her family are fine with no damage.  She posted a lot of pics of damage in the area.

[Ragsmomma]

Thanks for letting me know.  I must be one of the few people who don't do FB.

[Teresa]

How sweet of everyone! I'm sorry I didn't check in here.  The devastation around Jacksonville is unbelievable. I feel very blessed that we were about a mile south of the damage.  So many of my friends have sustained damage. One friend has lost her house.  There is much coverage on the news about it hitting Jacksonville State University (where my husband is a professor) but so little coverage has been given to the residential section to the west of the University which was demolished.  It is simply unbelievable that only one person was injured and none were killed.  Because they have been restoring power, water and gas to the area, today is the first day they are allowing volunteers in to help with the cleanup.  I am going this afternoon to my friend's house to help her recover and pack whatever we can find left in the house.  We are a town of around 10,000 residents so not very big.  We are just thankful it was spring break for the students so that most of them were off campus. 

Right now I am waging a war on Facebook in various venues on behalf of one of my employees who is a student at JSU.  She lived next to campus in an apartment complex and was not home when the storm hit.  She has a cat, Charlie, and her roommate's cat, Felix, who are still in the apartment, but they are not allowing them to enter to get their cats. so they've been in there almost a week now without additional food or water. The apartment above theirs was demolished (3rd floor) but theirs appears to be intact based on drone footage. They keep being told that they apartment is not structurally sound for them to go in and get the cats!!!  I'm trying to raise outrage - which seems to be helping some. At least the City sent in the Animal Control and some firemen to the apartments to recover animals yesterday, but yet they said they still couldn't get to her apartment because of debris. I hate thinking of those cats without food or water, and being abandoned. Please keep them in your prayers that someone will be bold enough or able to get into that apartment today and find those cats.

[Teresa]

Here are some pics....for those of you who may not be aware of how much damage a tornado can bring. I know my husband wasn't until we moved to Alabama (where I was raised).  It was a rude awakening after we moved here and had the first tornados.

[Rebecca]

Oh my god your friends house - how devastating I hope that she had insurance for tornadoes.
and the cats and other pets left without food and water! That is terrible.  I know when the fires were ragging in Fort McMurray here, the police and firefighters along with several rescue groups were doing their best to rescue the pets left behind.   

[Desi]

Wow, that's horrible!  I recall a similar incident of the police not allowing people to enter a New York City high rise during a heat wave, resulting in a hundred or so dead pets.  I know after that they changed the law so that the pets would be rescued rather than left there (this was in the late 90s).  I can't seem to find a link to anything but if I find it I will post it, maybe it will help your cause.  It's unfair to leave animals trapped in an apartment like that with no food and water.

[Ragsmomma]

OMG!!  I don't think any of us have any idea of the devastation.  We have a lot of big pine trees that have tumbled down due to the winds we have but nothing like any of this.  I hope that the authorities get their behinds in gear and get the pets out of there.  I bet they'd have a different view if the pets belonged to them!!

Sue

[Codysmom]

Wow Teresa, so glad you were all safe through that. It's awful to see such devastation. 

[Rebecca]

T, any up date on your student whose cat was in the apartment?

I do hope that she was able to rescue the poor thing.

[HelenMac]

So glad you are ok and safe Teresa. Praying  your friends cat has been rescued.

[Teresa]

Just a quick update on my friend's cat that was lost during the tornado. It did escape her apartment and was trapped 2 weeks later by Animal Control. Shelby when to get her cat and was able to hold him for a brief moment as they took him out of the trap and she was trying to put him into his carrier (they were doing this outside - hindsight is 20/20) when he went crazy and jumped out of her arms and ran off into the woods again. They are still trying to trap him again, but chances of him going in the trap now are much slimmer.

[Rebecca]

Oh the poor kitty - so terrified.  I so hope that he will be rescued and get back home to your friend where he is safe