Here are pictures from Pleasant Grove, Alabama:
Off of Highway 78, a mattress on the edge of the broken woods.
What remains of a nearby business.
Prior to the storm, a filling station stood here.
Metal twisted around a pole
A Pleasant Grove residential neighborhood
In the midst of the ruins, the Salvation Army is there to help.
A huge tree, torn up by the roots
The house destroyed, yet the television appears untouched.
Another ancient tree uprooted
If you look closely, you'll see that the flag is still flying in front of this house.
A forest snapped in half.
An empty recliner sits alone on the side of the house; there is no one at leisure here.
Clothes way up in this tree. Whose are they? Are the people who wore them okay?
Randomness: the house in the background remains intact, while a neighbor's house in front was demolished.
We ran into Pleasant Grove Rural Carrier Blaine Isbell while she was delivering on her route. She lives in nearby Hueytown and survived the storm in her basement with her teenage son. "The tornado was so close to us that our ears were popping," Blaine told us.
After the storm, this pile of twisted metal was removed from the Pleasant Grove Post Office.
A construction crew was working hard to quickly repair the Pleasant Grove Post Office. "We want to get y'all up and running in two days so that people here can get their mail," the owner of the building told us.
Yesterday, Administrative Assistant Belinda Smith sent us this picture of the tornado, which was accompanied with this note from Sayre Postmaster Kelly Perigin:
Melinda Lane who just recovered from a heart attack drove her scanner to Sumiton to be downloaded. She returned to Sipsey with the scanner 3 minutes before the tornado hit Sipsey. This is a picure from Sumiton.
Regarding impacted Postal employees:
Postmarks has already heard of several Alabama Postal employees who have suffered physical injuries, property damage, and/or loss of loved ones. Many of you have asked about this because you want to help.
When we have a more complete list along with clearance to post it, we will let you know who needs help and how you can contact these fellow employees.
In the meantime, if you know of a colleague who needs help, please contact us so that we can add their names to the list.
Melinda Lane who just recovered from a heart attack drove her scanner to Sumiton to be downloaded. She returned to Sipsey with the scanner 3 minutes before the tornado hit Sipsey. This is a picure from Sumiton.
Regarding impacted Postal employees:
Postmarks has already heard of several Alabama Postal employees who have suffered physical injuries, property damage, and/or loss of loved ones. Many of you have asked about this because you want to help.
When we have a more complete list along with clearance to post it, we will let you know who needs help and how you can contact these fellow employees.
In the meantime, if you know of a colleague who needs help, please contact us so that we can add their names to the list.
