- 11:05 am (Wednesday, 4/27/11): A "Particularly Dangerous Situation" Tornado Watch is issued for our area until 7:00 pm. I decide to delay my travel home to Memphis (originally scheduled for the afternoon) to Thursday because of the severe weather potential.
- 12:00 pm: I take my Calculus III exam. Before starting the exam, our professor informs us, "If there's a tornado, this is the safe room of the building. Everyone is going to come down here. I'll stand at the door and tell them to be quiet as they seek shelter in here."
- 1:51 pm: I finish my exam and return to my apartment. I fire up all my weather software and turn on a live stream of ABC 33/40 out of Birmingham. A few minutes into the stream, they show a live shot of a large tornado in Cullman, AL. I determine that this situation is much worse than I had thought.
- 3:15 pm: I start watching a intensifying storm cell near Kosciusko, MS on the radar. It isn't severe at this time, but, given the setup of the day, I begin becoming concerned.
- 3:26 pm: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is issued for this storm. It is strengthening quickly.
- 3:41 pm: A Tornado Warning is issued for this cell, but it doesn't include Starkville at this point. My concern increases.
- 3:56 pm: The power at our apartment (and all of Starkville, Columbus, and West Point) goes out. Apparently, a transmission line is damaged near Macon, MS, and every power customer within a 60-mile radius loses power. I run downstairs and, with Cody's help, begin cleaning out the closet under our staircase in case we have to seek shelter. During these events, I normally don't stress too much about severe weather, but since the environment is so volatile for tornadoes today, I immediately become worried.
- 4:11 pm: I start trying to call my mother to let her know about the power outage and our impending danger. I don't get through until 4:29 pm for the reasons listed below.
- 4:17 pm: I try calling James, who is en route to the apartment. He is stuck in traffic because every stoplight is out in town, and it is rush hour. He wants to be at the apartment in case anything happens. The cell phone towers are still functional for internet, but voice and text messages are intermittent. At this point, I am becoming very anxious. Everything is setting up for a catastrophe in Starkville: many cars on the roads, power outage (so no one can turn on the TV or their computers, and no sirens), text messages delayed (so any warning sent out by Mississippi State would be woefully late), with a potentially tornadic supercell heading straight for Starkville at 60 miles per hour. Based on my calculations, the storm will be in Starkville by 4:50 pm.
- 4:30 pm: I start looking at the clock, waiting for the Tornado Warning to be issued. Based on previous experiences, I know it takes about ten minutes for the Maroon Alert message (MSU's emergency notification system) to arrive after the issuance of a warning. The majority of people in Starkville depend on two methods for severe weather notifications: weather sirens and Maroon Alert text messages. Both systems are either down or seriously delayed. The next six minutes tick by slowly.
- 4:36 pm: The Tornado Warning is finally issued for Starkville. According to the warning, the potential tornado will arrive at 4:45 pm – nine minutes. I begin panicking silently.
- 4:39 pm: A Maroon Alert is sent out via text message (six minutes before the apparent tornado will arrive). On campus, police cars begin sounding their sirens because the weather sirens do not have backup power. However, at my apartment a mile away from campus in Starkville, all is silent outside.
- 4:40 pm: Several of our neighbors come to our apartment. Also, a older man and his teenage grandson are standing outside on one of the apartment's porches. The man is a retired professor in the College of Business at MSU. Also, the grandson is interested in meteorology – perfect place for him to be, I guess. I never hear the full story, but apparently they either had car trouble or ran out of gas while in traffic. We see them standing outside and invite them into our apartment which is already full with about ten people. During this time, we wait for something to happen outside. We quickly look outside to see the clouds, but only see a little amount of rotation. We're still on edge (or, at least, I am).
- 5:00 pm: We determine that the danger has passed by the arrival of sunshine in town. The man and his grandson are picked up by family members. Around this time, we begin thinking about dinner. Cody and Amanda, our neighbor, decide to use our grill and cook everything we have in the freezer, including burgers, shrimp, chicken, and squash. In context, this is the approximate time that the large tornado strikes Tuscaloosa, AL.
- 5:10 pm: James is finally able to call me back. He had been able to get to our friend DeAundrae's apartment. They both eventually come to our apartment.
- 5:57 pm: Strange Brew Coffeehouse's (SB) Twitter feed retweets a report that it could take TVA up to three days to restore power.
- 6:33 pm: SB posts a tweet that their sister store, Cold Stone Creamery, is giving away every frozen product that they possess, including ice cream, cakes, cupcakes,
and more, because it is beginning to melt and they won't be able to save it. I read the tweet about fifteen minutes later to our crowd. It takes about three seconds for it to process through everyone's minds, and then everyone simultaneously leaps and runs to the cars. Bryan leaves without wearing shoes. I drive like my hair is on fire to Cold Stone, and we jump in line. There are at least 100 people in front of us. I manage to snap a picture while we are waiting. After receiving our ice cream from the extremely friendly employees, we go back to the apartment, where Cody and Amanda stand bewildered at our sudden evacuation of the apartment. We then eat dinner. - 8:00 pm: Around 8 pm, four of us decide to drive around Starkville to see what is going on. We go on campus where just about everything is dark. I had read some tweets that MSU was trying to bring a backup power source online, but it is having issues. In Starkville, everything is dark, except for Kroger, Lowes, and Piggly Wiggly, which is incredibly crowded. There are no parking spots in their normally empty parking lot. When we get back, several of the girls in our apartment want to stargaze, since there are no lights to obscure the view of the sky. Fearing for their safety, some guys begrudgingly go with them.
- 9:00 pm: We start listening to 94.1 WZBQ, a radio station out of Tuscaloosa, on my battery-powered weather radio. Virtually every other radio station in the area is off the air. The DJ, named D-Lo, is fielding calls from anyone who has or seeks information. Though he is focused on Tuscaloosa, he receives calls from Columbus, Starkville, and Tupelo. He doesn't mind at all and soon realizes that this station is the only one transmitting in the entire power-deprived region. D-Lo certainly deserves an award of some type. He is probably responsible for saving many lives in the aftermath of the tragedy. While listening, I decide to drain my laptop battery in an attempt to charge my quickly-dying phone.
- 9:15 pm: A Maroon Alert is sent that informs everyone that the 8 am and noon exams are cancelled tomorrow. Students can either choose to keep the grade they have or try to take the exam at a later date by working with their instructor.
- 11:50 pm: I decide to go to bed. However, I am unable to sleep for quite sometime, so I take the weather radio with me and plug in my headphones to continue listening to 94.1. I think I finally fall asleep around 12:15 am.
- 12:28 am (Thursday, 4/28/11): Power is restored to Starkville.
- 12:39 am: I wake up and realize the power is back on. After posting this fact on Twitter and Facebook (eleven minutes after everyone else did...haha), I fall asleep again.
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