The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 13

Montgomery Advertiser SPECIAL REPORT: DEADLY TORNADOES STRIKE ALABAMA Friday, April 10, 1998 13A Oak Grove residents recount 'nihtmar e5 Azbzmaf5 deadliest tornadoes Wednesday's tornadoes were the seventh deadliest in Alabama history. Here are the state's 10 deadliest tornadoes: Dale Dead Injured F-scale Counties affected 1 March 21, 1932 49 150 F4 PerryBibbChillonShelbyCoosa 2 April 20, 1920 44 700 F4 OktibbehaClayMonroe 3 March 21, 1932 41 325 F4 Talladega 4 March 21, 1932 38 500 F4 MorganMadisonJackson, AL 5 March 21, 1932 37 200 F4 Tuscaloosa 6 January 22, 1904 36 150 F4 HaleTuscaloosa 7 Aprils, 1998 32 160 F5 TuscaloosaSt. ClairJefferson 8 March 21, 1932 31 200 F4 PerryChiltonCoosa 9 April 3, 1974 28 260 F5 LawrerKMorganLirnesloneWaclison 10 March 21, 1913 27 100 F4 ClarkeAAilcox By Nick Lackeos MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER OAK GROVE "It was a nightmare just a nightmare." Billy Morris whispered the words in a voice breaking with emotion Thursday afternoon. He stood by a school flagpole beneath an American flag that was flapping furiously against a slate-gray sky in a wind that nobody noticed. He was among the people who walked on Lock 17 Road, viewing the warlike devastation of the previous night's tornado that claimed lives and destroyed homes in this Jefferson County community west of Hueytown and Bessemer.

"It's all gone," Morris said as he stared at the rubble of crumbling brick walls and twisted metal that had been Oak Grove High School. Also in ruins was an adjacent building that had housed elementary school students. "This is where my boy spent most of his life," Morris said of his son, Brent, an llth-grader who is now without a school. "I've lived here all my life," said Michele Glaze, a 1972 graduate of the high school where she is the kindergarten through sixth grade gym teacher. "They're calling churches to see if we can meet (for classes) at the churches." Teen-agers and youngsters ambled along the road, staring at the ruins of their school and nearby homes while power crews replaced utility poles and used chain saws to cut limbs of fallen trees away from tangled lines.

Elna Bores and her daughter-in-law, Terrie Bores, both of Oak Grove, walked down the road near 4 4.V Vt STAFF in your ears. "The steel door to our shelter is almost two inches thick, and it was sucking the door in and out. I knew then that we were in a tornado," Terrie Bores said. Her husband grabbed the door and held on to keep the wind from taking it, she said, recalling how she pulled her daughter away from the door. Charlotte Schuffert, 45, wiped her tears as she stood in her front yard among a jungle of limbs from a huge oak tree uprooted in the storm.

It was only one of several big downed trees in and along the edge of her yard. "I had just got home" after 7 p.m. when the wind was picking up, Schuffert said. "My husband, Way-land, was down on the river, fishing. I called him.

It was lightning so much that it looked like flash cubes going off, like pictures being taken. "I got inside the closet and started praying," Schuffert said. V'- i i Oak Grove High School in west Jefferson County was demolished Wednesday. Hospital's emergency team meets true test of training I l' IJi. 'va I I 1 1 Schuffert Bores The Grove, a convenience store.

"It was a loud, roaring noise," Elna Bores, 65, said of the tornado. "I never heard nothing sound like that before." As the howling wind became louder, she and her family hurried into the storm shelter constructed of cement blocks with concrete and reinforced steel rods. "It was so loud that we couldn't hear each other talking," Terrie Bores said of herself and her family waiting inside the shelter for the storm to pass. "It made a ringing The areas hardest hit by the twister resembled a war zone with bodies found on roads, a car, tree and what was left of their houses. Animals also suffered.

Donna Morris of Lloyd Noland Hospital said a hospital employee had been helping a pregnant goat deliver when the storm struck several miles from where most of the damage occurred. "The tornado knocked down a tree that killed both the goat and her baby," said Morris. Gov. Fob James toured the ravaged area Thursday morning when daylight offered a chilling view of the destruction. Many were not at home at the time because they were in church during traditional i By Alvin Benn MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER FAIRFIELD When Lloyd No-land Hospital activated its Code Green alarm at 9:57 p.m.

Wednesday, its emergency response team put into motion lessons learned from periodic drills during the year. Surgeons, nurses and other professionals worked through the night to help victims of the storm that devastated an area not far from the hospital that was built more than 70 years ago. Dr. Jim Lindsey, an internist, hurried down a hallway Thursday afternoon, showing no signs of fatigue after having been up all night. "We had one lady who wound up on a roof three houses down from hers," Lindsey, 39, said.

"She came out just fine." Spokeswoman Shannon Courtney said 33 victims were treated in the Noland emergency room and seven were admitted. She said dozens of other victims wound up at other hospitals in Jefferson County. "I got to bed at 2 a.m.," said Courtney, who was back at work a few hours later. "We've all put in a long day, but we're trained to react to emergencies such as this one." The hospital activated its Code White system at 7:50 p.m. when word was received of a severe storm front moving through the state and toward Jefferson County.

That put employees on notice to be prepared for any eventuality. When the Code Green alarm was activated, those on duty sprang into action to await the victims, while others, who had gone home, were called in. The Amber Code was sounded at 3:30 a.m., sending weary workers home for a few hours of sleep before returning later in the day. Donna Morris, who is the hospital's accounting coordinator, was Schools, nursing homes, hospitals, factories and shopping centers: Go to a pre-des-ignated shelter area. Basements are the best, but interior hallways on the lowest floor usually offer protection.

Close all doors to the hallway for greater protection. Mobile homes or vehicles: Leave them and go to a strong building. If there is no shelter nearby, get into the nearest ditch and lie flat with your hands shielding your head. Source: National Weather Service Deborah Valentine sorts through the remainder of her mother-in-law's belongings Thursday after a tornado ripped through their McDonald Chapel neighborhood. The antique vanity was not damaged.

ASSOCIATED PRESS counting her blessings. She and her two children survived as the storm blew over their house. They took refuge in an underground room built specifically for that purpose. "When we designed our house, we were worried about something like this happening and added a room under the porch for protection," Morris, 39, said. Morris' husband, Larry, was not at home when the storm hit, but he was not in danger and spent part of the night trying to help those in distress.

"I was so scared when the storm came over us," Donna Morris said. "We were saying our prayers, but we were the lucky ones." Among those killed was one of her childhood friends, Deborah Helms, and Helms' two children, Colby, 8, and Carson, 4. "They found Deb covering her two boys," Morris said. "She had been trying to protect them with her body." AREA from Page 1A of north Alabama. The worst single tornado in Alabama history occurred on March 21, 1932 when 49 were killed and 150 injured in Perry, Bibb, Chilton, Shelby and Coosa Counties.

One of the lucky survivors Wednesday night was Jim Shep-pard. He had gone to an area video store with a friend and wound up being buried under a large pile of bricks after the storm destroyed it. "The lights started flickering and I got behind a shelf," said Sheppard, 19. "Then the roof '-If We're To give our we've from the and Ambra. a limited time SO Styles, We individually painstaking frames and a your Extravaganza TORNADO SAFETY RULES started to come off and I got on the floor.

Then the whole place just collapsed around me." For two hours, Sheppard said he lay under a thick blanket of bricks as his friend, Devon Ross, and the owner of the store, tried to keep up his spirits. Rescuers finally arrived and removed the bricks. His right ankle was sprained, but that was the extent of the injuries for Sheppard, a senior at Oak Grove High School. He was relaxing Friday at Calvary Baptist Church, which was turned into a shelter for storm victims. "I was talking to God through my pain," said Sheppard.

"He must have heard my prayers." Others were not as fortunate. In general: Get to the lowest elevation possible. A basement or the lowest floor of a building offers the greatest safety. Put as many walls between yourself and the outside as possible. Avoid windows.

Homes or small buildings: Go to the basement or to a small interior room such as a closet or bathroom, or an interior hall on the lowest level. If available, get under something sturdy like a heavy table. Protect yourself from flying debris with pillows, heavy coats, blankets or quilts. FINAL Great Values DAIVD ALAN PLANCHETSTAFF Wednesday night services. Scott Adcock, a spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, said Alabama National Guard troops worked through the day to make sure that no looting occurred and to help anyone in need.

Traffic slowed to a snail's pace in the hard-hit areas as troops, augmented by local police and the Jefferson County Sheriffs Department, established roadblocks to keep out anyone who did not live there. Some officers issued tickets to gawkers who drove into the devastated communities. Adcock said, "It's just not safe enough to have people drive through who don't need to be there." iviumyumery Highway 80 Office Regional Airport 281-0110 281-0114 A licensee of Thrifty Rent-A-Car System tnc with ftp ElQinivan. WEEECEND! on Our Best Leathers! Celebrating Sixteen Years Of Delighting Customers! valued customers the absolute best savings possible, negotiated special one-time-only leather purchases world's finest tanneries Elmo, Lakawanna, Friitala Come in today because these special prices are for only! 70 Colors, 10 Leather Grades! handcraft each piece of our furniture with care. Vie use 100 hill top-grain leather, hardwood state-of-the-art suspension system.

Plus, we'll deliver made-toorder furniture in just two weeks! Hurry, this won't be around much longer! mm Call 1-800-FCR-CARS WW Thrifty features quality products of the Chrysler Corooration and other fine cars I. jne LEATH MM mmmm CENTER No. 1 In Leather Seating! OfZttfAtmfCutttmitMl 10 7 FBI 4 SAT 1M CLOSED EASTER SUNDAY rJ When you use our new on-line ordering you can order anything from our catalog and have in-stock items delivered the next business day. MONTGOMERY 6377 Atlanta Hwy. (334) 395-6500 (334) 395-6400 Fax Contact Christine Graham for more information 300 South Perry Street Montgomery 264-5371 MON-THURS.