Former Resident Julian Oliver Discusses Cleanup of Alabama Tornados


Reader Submission by Julian Oliver –

I returned on July 31 from deployment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Cullman, Alabama. I was there for the debris clean-up of the Right of Way for the county roads.

Seeing all this devastation was like seeing a war zone. The destruction was heart breaking. One of the things that really impressed me was talking to some of the locals along these roads and how they survived. They all said it was a miracle.

One local resident related to me that he saw the tornado coming and he was trying to get his wife in a storm cellar under the front porch. She was a bit reluctant and at that very moment the tornado suction pulled her blouse completely off. The husband pulled her down and closed the cellar door. At that instant the entire roof of the house was blown off and landed in a pond in front of the house. This was just one of the many stories that was told to me about the tornado and how they survived. .

When I go on these disaster clean-ups, I feel a sense of pride in knowing that I am doing something worth while for my fellow man.

Julian Oliver