April 27, 2011, the Day My Life Changed: A True Testimony from Being a Victim to Being a Survivor

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Published by AuthorHouse 3/26/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3480-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3479-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3478-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013905809

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To my Father in Heaven and My Savior Jesus Christ for loving me unconditionally.

To my children, family and close friends that inspired me the most to write this book. They never gave up on me. To all the obstacles that came my way and forced me to move forward with a new beginning in life.

To my Church Family at Ashville First Baptist Church in Ashville, Alabama that took us under their wings and took care of us. The Love you showed and gave to my family and I was unconditional.

To all of you that built our home and spent many dedicated hours just to get us back home before Christmas. We love you all so much.

To Brother James Sampley and Sondra Yarbrough for never giving up Faith that God was going to provide a way for us all. For all the Prayers and love that you provided us when we had almost given up. We all love you so much.

To all the volunteers that dedicated so much of their time, came to our aid, and showed unconditional love to all of us in the Valley. We will never forget you and we love you, dearly. By showing how much you cared when you didn’t even know us, you gave us Hope. You all showed us that we were not alone and what hurt us, also hurt you.

For all the loved ones that we lost on April 27, 2011 in Shoal Creek Valley. You are missed.

•   Oberia Layton Ashley

•   Ronnie Isbell

•   Tammy Isbell

•   Leah Isbell

•   Bertha S. Kage

•   Thomas Carl Lee

•   Stella Mae Lovell

•   Sandra Pledger

•   Albert Sanders

•   Angie Sanders

•   Charlie Andrew Wolfe

•   Nettie Ruth Wolfe

I t was a typical Wednesday morning. The alarm clock buzzed at 4:45 a.m. It was time to get up already. It never seems like you get enough sleep. It felt as if I had only slept two hours. I needed at least five more hours of rest, I thought. I finally hit the snooze button. Just five more minutes, I quietly said to myself. Just five more minutes.

I finally got on up and went to make my morning coffee. I started throwing stuff together for my and my sons’ lunches for work. I grabbed the last can of tuna fish and a pack of crackers for myself and made the usual lunches of ham sandwiches, chips, and snack cakes for my sons. As I quickly put everything into our lunch boxes, I kept looking over to see if the coffee had finished brewing.

Finally! The coffee was ready. I poured myself a cup and added my favorite coffee creamer—French Vanilla. That’s the stuff as the kids would say. I took the first sip of coffee. Oh my goodness! Now that’s a good cup of coffee, I might add, even though it didn’t come from a fancy coffee and doughnut shop. Now I was ready to start the morning.

I looked outside the sliding glass door to see if it had started raining yet. The local weatherman had said the night before that we had a storm system approaching Alabama on Wednesday and for people to stay alert for any weather changes. The National Weather Service was stating that these storms were building and getting stronger, and we—that is the state of Alabama—were at high risk for severe weather.

However, when I looked outside, it was barely sprinkling. Thank goodness! I really wasn’t looking forward to having to drive in the pouring rain at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. So I headed to my bedroom to get dressed for work so I could get out the door no later than 6:15 a.m. I kept thinking to myself that I sure could call into work and just stay home to keep an eye on the weather.

We had no weather alerts or warnings going off on the television or the weather radio so far, so I proceeded to get my son up for work and went and told my daughter that I was leaving. I said, Ro’chele, I put your lunch money in your purse and your softball uniforms have been washed and dried and are sitting by your bag on the couch. I kissed her little forehead and told her that I loved her and to have a good day. She nodded her little head yes, as if to tell me okay. At the time, my daughter was 16 years of age and both of my boys were 20 years old with two month difference between them.

I went into the living room and told my son one final time to get up for work. I told him that his lunch was on the kitchen counter by his wallet and truck keys and that I loved him. I wished him a good day and said that I was leaving for work. In reply, he said the same old thing: "I’m up!" So out the door I went.

I had gotten down to Bethany Baptist Church on Shoal Creek Road when the winds started picking up. As I got closer to the stop sign, I noticed some lightning back toward Highway 231. I remember saying to myself, Oh Lord, here we go with the heavy rain. But not for one moment would I have dreamed of what I am about to tell you.

I turned the radio up a little louder and started channel surfing for weather reports but found nothing. I continued seeking through channel after channel, but there were still no weather reports. I was beginning to get a little nervous, so I just found a radio station with music that I liked to keep my mind off of things so I could drive into work safely.

As I got closer to the end of Shoal Creek Valley, where Highway 231 intercedes, the winds picked up a little more. I made my normal left turn and headed south toward Pell City, Alabama. I usually took this route down 231 until I got to Highway 34 and then from there, headed toward Talladega. It was a slightly shorter route for me when I was working at the main plant. You see, I was a grade-IV wastewater operator and one of our plants was off the 275 Bypass. It was easier for me to take this route to work.

The rain started coming down pretty hard as I approached the first mountain on 231. We called this area Gulf Hollow mostly because it was such a drop-off, if you were to go off the side of this mountain, you probably would never be found. I was getting more nervous and a little anxious. I started channel surfing again and finally found a weather report. And guess what! St. Clair County—that was us—was under a severe thunderstorm warning with heavy rains, deadly lightning, and damaging winds up to sixty miles per hour predicted.

Then, all of a sudden, there it was, sitting on top of us as we all commuted into work. Trees were falling in front of me as well as behind me. The winds were unbelievable. The rain was coming down in heavy sheets, and I could barely see the road. I started praying, God, lead me and direct me along with others to safety. Please keep my Chevy Impala on the road and not off the side of the mountain where I would never be found.

As I came down the first mountain and approached the second mountain, daylight was trying to break through the dark clouds, which made the skies look even angrier. All of a sudden, pine cones and small tree limbs were snapping and hitting both sides of my car. I looked up and out of my front windshield to see something that I had never seen before. Extremely tall and perfectly round pine trees were leaning completely over as their limbs from the tip-top of the trees touched the ground.

I started coming down the second mountain and saw that there were a few other cars in front of me as well. We were all driving slowly, and then we came to a complete stop. I started praying again. Father, please help us all get out of here. I was by this time shaking badly; I trembled with fear for everyone who was traveling. I feared for my children and feared that I would never see them again.

Then I remembered that I had to call my son. He was getting ready to leave for work. I started praying again, Lord, please let me have cell phone service. I looked at my phone and saw I had three service bars so I would be able to call out—or at least I was hoping that I could. Then I said, Now, Lord, please let him, Lord … please let my son still be at home.

I called the house, and a friend of mine answered the phone instead of one of my children. You see, these friends had lost their home to foreclosure and I had opened my home up to them to stay with my family until they could find a new house. Her husband had been offered a job in Afghanistan, so he was not there at the time.

I had a lot of people tell me that I was a much bigger person than they were, that they just didn’t know if they could do what I did to help this family. I would always reply with a response of: It’s been a challenge. I had often come home to hidden things, misplaced things, broken things, and even sometimes my private things having been gone through, but I always seemed to manage and never accused or showed my temper.

I kept telling people that I had done what I did to help them, as I was led by the good Lord above to do so. Everyone would tell me that they commended me and admired me for who I was and what I was doing for others. I would always say that I knew that good things would come about and many blessings. It may not be this lifetime, but God knew, and that was all that mattered.

She answered the phone, and I told her to give the phone to my son. She began asking questions. I frantically and firmly—for her to understand that this was not a time for the one-hundred-question talk—to give the phone to my son right then! He answered the phone with a Hello?

I said to myself, Thank You, God, he is at home.

Derrell, I said sharply. "Pay attention and listen to me. Do not—I repeat—do not leave the house. It’s too dangerous. There are trees down everywhere on 231. You can’t make it up through here. Do you understand me?"

He replied, Are you okay? Where are you?

I explained that I was okay. I told him that I was going to be all right and that I was at the second mountain on 231. He knew where I was because he drove that same route to work in Pell City every day as well. He was working on building the new hospital in town.

Turn the weather on, Son. Talk to me! I continued in a demanding voice. What are they saying about the weather?

There was a brief period of silence. I sensed concern from him, a feeling of discomfort. But then he replied, It’s almost past you.

I took a deep breath and calmly said, Okay, baby. Then I explained to him that no matter what not to try to go to work and not to let his sister leave for school. I told him that I didn’t care if they had not canceled school; I was canceling school.

He said, Yes, Momma.

Derrell, watch the weather and watch it closely all day. Keep me informed if anything changes today. I will call you when I get to work to let you know that I made it all right. It may take me a little while to get to Talladega, but as soon as I get there, I will call you. I love you, Son. I hung the phone up, and I was back to dodging trees again.

I had another car in front of me, and we both had our emergency flashers on and were easing our way through the heavy rain, lightning, and strong winds until we got over the second mountain. Then, all of a sudden, we came to a complete stop because a huge tree had fallen across the highway. At this point on Highway 231, it was four lanes—two lanes going north and two lanes going south. So you can imagine how tall the tree was. It had covered the whole road.

I looked at my cell phone again to see if I had service or not so I could call my daddy. I still to this day don’t think he understood what I was trying to say to him. He answered, Hello? in a very tired voice.

Daddy, I said, listen, I am on 231 at mile marker 223. I am trying to get to work, and we are stuck by trees down everywhere.

I know, he said. We have been out all night long working. Pell City is tore up pretty bad. We have got a lot of wind damage. Trees are down on some of the older houses up in town, and a lot of mobile homes have been destroyed. We have had a couple of fatalities from this morning’s storm. Highway 34 has a lot of water on the roads, and trees are down over the roads there as well.

You see, my dad worked for the Street Department of Pell City. He had been with them for over thirty years. The guys who worked for him were family. They all stuck together. It didn’t matter what time Daddy called them, they were always there and ready to do whatever they needed to do to get the city roads cleared and ready to be used. I told my dad that I would call him a little later and check in with him, I knew he was pretty busy, and I loved him.

I knew I had to try to get a hold of someone at work because it was already 6:30 a.m., and it was very obvious that I was not going to make it by 7:00 a.m. Max, my best friend and coworker, always got to work early, so I decided to call him and let him know what was going on. He could pass the word to Brian, our supervisor, for me.

Max answered with his usual, Hey, baby.

Max, listen, I’m stuck on Highway 231 because trees are down across both sides of the road, and I am on the mountain. I am going to be just a little late.

Max replied, "Are you okay? I heard that it