We were very blessed in Alabama today. Despite a major tornado outbreak, nobody was killed, and to my knowledge there were no serious injuries. One child suffered broken bones, and another had cuts and lacerations at the skating risk destroyed in the eastern part of Montgomery yesterday, but nothing life threatening. At this moment it looks like at least seven tornadoes touched down in the central and southern part of the state, with damage in Montgomery, Tallapoosa, Chambers, Barbour, Pike, and Covington counties. The warning system worked very well, and that probably has much to do with the lack of fatalities during the day.
One issue I would like to discuss is the one involving school closings. A few systems around the state shut down early today (or didn’t open at all), which in my opinion is a major mistake. In rural Alabama, a large percentage of children live in mobile homes, and where schools close down, they send the children from the safest place (the school building), and into the worst possible place (a mobile home or vehicle). I plead with all superintendents around the state to keep their schools open as usual on severe weather days for this very reason; there is no doubt in my mind that will save the life of a child one day. Sure, there might be a delay in getting kids home if severe weather is going on at 3:00, but once again, you want the kids in the safest place possible and for many Alabama children, those schools are the best place. We have to remember most people who die in Alabama tornadoes are in vehicles or mobile homes.
There are some school officials who say I don’t understand the situation. I will be the first to admit there are many issues in life I don’t understand, but I have been working in children’s ministry for many, many years, and understand rural Alabama better than most. Rest assured, closing schools on severe weather days is not the right decision. A great example was the school in Pintlala yesterday (just south of Montgomery). The school was damaged by a tornado, but no children were hurt. Just down the road, a trailer was flipped over by the storm. Thankfully, there were no injuries since nobody was inside….. but imagine if the school had closed and a child had gone home to that trailer.
Lets hope and pray we won’t have any more severe weather threats this fall tornado season, but we all need to make the best decision possible to prevent loss of life.
