Julie Garrett
Our family had a variety of experiences, because I left town with my 3
year old son, and my father went on a trip to Las Vegas, for the blizzard
weekend.
My father had always wanted to go to Vegas, and had scheduled his trip
for that weekend. My mother opted not to go, because she was afraid that
if she went it would be deemed the "big trip" of the year. Therefore,
despite the predictions of the blizzard, Daddy went on without her. He
will never live it down. Mom stayed in their house in Riverchase, with
their two labrador retrievers, and weathered the storm alone.
In the meantime, my son and I went to visit a friend in Starkville, MS.
Somehow, in all the festivities there, we missed the news that Birmingham
had been buried in snow. My mother never called us, because she was mad
that we hadn't called her. On Sunday we started back from Starkville,
unaware that roads were closed and impassable.
As I drove onto the interstate in Tuscaloosa, I could see a sign that
appeared to indicate the part of the road was closed. I thought it meant
the ramp was closed, so I went towards Meridian on the interstate, then
crossed the median and started towards Birmingham. Around the Brookwood
exit the traffic completely stopped (I wasn't the only fool on the closed
interstate). We crept along - it took several hours to get from that exit
to mile marker 91, which is where the large patch of black ice was
located. The cars and trucks were having to go individually across the
patch, because it was large enough that you had no traction at all as you
crossed. From that point the traffic was thin but the roads were
treacherous. By the time we got to mile marker 91, it was dark and very
cold.
I exited at the Petro Truck Stop, exit 100, naively thinking that we
could find somewhere to stay there. I didn't realize that all power was
out. I pulled into the truck stop and my son and I got out of the car to
go into the building. It was pitch black dark, and very nice volunteers
were leading people back to the pay phones to make phone calls. I called
my mother, who was horrified that we were out in the weather. There was
nothing for me to do but to stay at the truck stop, so we were led back to
the restaurant. The chairs had been put up onto the tables and they were
assigning places on the floor under the tables to families, to sleep for
the night. My son and I huddled under our assigned table and he promptly
went to sleep. I lay there, feeling it getting colder, and listening to
the people around us who were sleeping, or shushing their children.
I didn't know it but my mother was on the phone to the state troopers,
demanding that they go retrieve us. They were unsympathetic about the
single mother and her son, since we were in out of the bitter cold.
A friend of mine, from Tuscaloosa, eventually found us at the truck
stop. I heard his voice as he was led back to our table. He loaded us into
his four wheel drive Jeep and drove us back to Tuscaloosa, where we drove
through Krystal and then went to his apartment for the night. We drove to
Birmingham the next day.
I don't know what we would have done without the Petro Truck Stop. My
family will always be grateful to them for giving us shelter that night.
Unfortunately, Daddy will never be forgiven for going on his trip to
Las Vegas.
V. Leigh Mattox
I was
working at Sears in Century Plaza during the snow. We were actually
watching you on the television while it was snowing. It was probably
about 6pm and the snow was starting to stick to the grass and the
cars. Our store manager (at home in the warm) requested the store stay
open till 9pm. There was no one in the mall at this time. Several of
us went against the orders and closed down to go home. The weather was
getting to bad. Well myself only being 17 and not full of knowledge
left for Center Point to visit an old girlfriend. We were talking and
laughing in her downstairs area where no windows were. I knew it was
snowing and pretty but hey this is Alabama. Maybe 1 or 2 inches at the
most right?. Well we heard a loud noise in her upstairs area. A limb
was sticking thru her roof in her living room. We walked outside to
assess the damage and when we opened the door we realized what was going
on. There was probably a good 3 inches of snow on the ground at this
time. I knew I was in trouble. I had a brand new Mazda MX-3 at the
time. We turned on you and Prater to see what was going on. Thats when
I heard they started closing interstates. I know now the best thing to
do would have to sit still. Dont leave. Well as I referenced above
being 17 and not to smart decided I would leave her house and drive to
Leeds. This was probably 15 miles to my parents house. I left her
house about 8pm. I got to I-459 and got onto the on ramp and I had the
radio on. They broadcasted that all interstates were closed. I drove
very slowly to I-20 and to the first Leeds exit and actually had no
problems. The roads were slick but I was very careful. I exited the
interstate and turned onto Rex Lake road. It was very dark so I got out
of the car and assessed the damage. Trees were down everywhere but I
thought this could be passable. Suddenly headlights were coming at me.
Several grown men were in a 4x4 truck out riding around. I asked them
if the road was clear and they said they were out playing (and sipping
on some whiskey to stay warm) but they offered to help me get past the
downed trees. They helped me get past the real bad spots and on my way
I went. Still to this time there was really no problems. The car was
sticking to the road ( to my suprise) and did not spin or fishtail at
all. I drove about 2 more miles to my parents house. This is very
important to stress I did not have a problem at all driving in this
weather. I was less than 5 ft. from my driveway when a tree was down
across the street. It was totally impassable. I had a brilliant idea
to drive around the block and just go the back way to my parents house.
I got around the block no problems and right in front of me was a tree
down across the road. I knew I had to get my car at least off the road
and into the driveway. I circled the block to my first tree when I
arrived there was a tree that had fallen on the already down tree across
the road. This was less than 5 minutes that this other tree had
fallen. I thought someone up there does not like my new car. I
abandoned the car and walked up my driveway. My parents were in bed so
I had the uncomfortable task of waking my father up to let him know I
was home but could not get the car up the driveway. If he could get the
chain saw we will cut the trees and clear the roads. Down to my car I
went. It was blowing snow everywhere. Blizzard conditions. At this
time it was probably 11pm (3 hours my leaving Center Point normally a 15
min. drive). He asked about going around the block and getting the car
around I told him I have tried that and there is a tree down that way.
He was insistent to go that way since there were 2 trees down in front
of us this was totally impassable. Around the block we went and came to
the down tree. There was a clearing off to the side of the road if I
could grab the limbs of the trees maybe he could pull the car around.
So out of the car I go (blizzard conditions still) pull the limbs and
the car barely makes it past. Finally I was home. It was now 12:30 am
and with over 6 inches of snow on the ground. Needless to say this was
a very eventful night. I was happy to be home but I should have just
stayed at my girlfriends house for safety reasons.
Gary Baird
My now 10 year
old was only 5 months old. Nothing like boiling snow over a gas heater to
make baby formula. We saved all of our perishable food by stowing it in
our recycling bin and stuffing it full of snow outside. Our power was out
for about a week. I remember when it went. We were watching TV and
listening to all the stories going on about the snow around the state and
all of a sudden, we heard a sizzling sound and looked out the back window
to see the transformer shooting bright blue arcs. It scared me, I thought
the house would blow up, so I took my infant daughter and ran next door to
my neighbors house. Finally, after about 45 minutes of the transformer
freaking out, the power went out and I went back to the house to try to
figure out what to do. The first thing I did was to take the milk and all
the good stuff out of the freezer and put it in our recycling bin and bury
it in snow. That worked amazingly well, nothing spoiled. We had one gas
heater in our small one bedroom house and we slept in the living room
floor on blankets. It really wasn't that bad after the initial shock wore
off. My best friend lived just around the corner and came over the next
morning and she, my husband and I built a couple of great snowmen and
cooked soup and hot chocolate on our gas heater. It got a little harder
toward the end of the blackout. We had run out of a lot and were unable
to get to the store because of the roads. We finally braved driving the
car (my husband did) and got to Wal Mart where the National Guard was
giving out water from a water tankard. We got our necessities and headed
home. If I remember correctly, the power came on about 2 days later. I
have both fond and terrible memories of the blizzard of '93. It is
definitely something I will never forget.
Amy L from Jacksonville, AL
Feb 12 1993 I was in a bad car wreck. I was burned 40% of my body. I
was at UAB until March 12 1993. That morning I was getting my bandages
change and looking out the window at the snow. I was going later that day.
My mom said if we did not leave soon we would not get home. I went back to
room and turned the TV on. There was James talking about the snow. My
nurse came in my room I was in tears, She asked me what was wrong, I told
I had leave right away or I would not get home. We live in Kimberly, The
drive from B'Ham would take for ever. I had to get home to my baby boy. He
was 6 months when had my wreck. I have not been home to him in a month. I
was ready to walk home. They let me go around 10 am, about 30 min after I
got home our road was a sheet of ice. The good lord made sure I got home.
The next week was very hard on us. We had no power on our water was
frozen. My mom had to melt snow on the grill to have water to fix my
baby's bottles. I was on able to go back to the doctor to get my bandages
change. My husband had to change them. It was very hard on him. Burns are
not a pretty site or smell. About 2 weeks later we got power, and I was
able to go to the doctor.
Thank's,
Tammy Bradley
The Blizzard of 1993 was an experience neither I nor my husband
(Mickey) will forget. I was nine months pregnant and our baby was due the
end of March.
We had just celebrated our 5th Anniversary (3/12) and had settled down for
a relaxing night of sleep. At this time, we were living in a Mobile Home
with all the comforts we thought
we needed. But when we awoke the next morning, our power was out and we
were freezing. Now we had no way of heating our home because we were
totally electric. We bundled up and made our way, slowly, to my
mother-in-law's home, (up hill, about a football field length away) and in
about two and half feet of snow. My legs felt like rubber and they were
extremely heavy.
My husband tried his best to pull me along as much as possible, but I
still had a hard time just picking my feet up out of the snow. He was
so concerned and caring the whole time. 
I
ended up dragging my feet through the snow the rest of the way. When we
arrived, I was hyper-ventilating and thought I was going to have the baby
right then, so did everyone else! My father-in-law was so scared that he
had walked 1/4 mile down their steep drive in order to get his tractor and
scraper. Within 20 minutes time, he had their entire steeply paved
drive-way cleared of snow, dirt and whatever else might have gotten in his
way.
By this time, I had calmed down. The rest of the family hadn't, but I
did. Everyone kept asking if I was fine and what could they do. It was
really neat to be the center of attention. We stayed with my mother-in-law
a few days with no power. They did have gas to cook with and a huge
fireplace downstairs to stay warm. We put mattresses on the floor around
the fireplace and we all slept there. Everything was fine until my
father-in-law started snoring...
We
eventually convinced him to sleep upstairs and use tons of covers. He did.
I guess aside from me being "with child", and having two foot of snow
blow into our new partially built home down in the pasture, the
worst part was using the restroom and sharing the same one with everyone
else. We all had to use the same "potty" until it became full, fill the
tank with water (which was melted snow) and then flush it. It seems like
when you don't have the comforts of a working restroom, then that's when
you need to go the most!
We listened to the battery operated radio and heard of
several incidences much worse than ours. People without heat, food and
shelter. Women having babies and others in need of hospital care, and the
list goes on. At this time I was teaching 3rd grade at Pleasant Valley
School in Calhoun County. I was concerned about my students and prayed for
their safety as well. We made the best of our situation and tried to
continue looking on the bright side and asking God to protect us and our
unborn child.
God proved faithful once again, as always! Our firstborn,
Micah
Scott Turner, arrived on March 26, 1993. He was perfectly healthy and in
no way affected by the traumatic experience we had endured during the
blizzard! Now he is almost 10 years old. He's healthy, strong and loves
Jesus with all his heart. We also have a 5 year old daughter, Hannah Grace
Turner, and she is also healthy, strong and loves Jesus! We have chosen to
home school our children and feel that God allows us to nurture them as
well as educate them through this method.
God used the blizzard of 93' to make us more thankful and grateful to
him for what we do have and to see just how blessed we really are! I don't
know why God chose to bless us through this time, but I am so glad He did.
Thank You for allowing me to share our story with you.
Sincerely,
Lana Patterson Turner
My father
passed away March 2, 1993, in Greensboro, Alabama. After the funeral and
spending a few days there with my mother, the two of us and my 5-month-old
baby came back to Oxford. After a few days with us, my husband, and two
young stepsons, my mother was anxious to return home and begin her life
again after losing her husband of almost 45 years. I suppose her grief and
my trying to ease her pain overshadowed our good sense, and we started the
150 mile trip back to Greensboro on the afternoon of The Great Blizzard.
I guess it came from the south, because the first sign of concern I had
was not until shortly before we reached Leeds on I-20 when light snow
began to fall. By the time we reached the interchange of I-59 to
Tuscaloosa from I-459, the ground was completely covered with snow and
very little traffic was on the highway. It was growing dark. I remember
thinking that we could stop in Tuscaloosa at a motel if we had to. We were
very fortunate that there was so little traffic; there were only a couple
of cars going south as we were. The road was not slick yet, so we did not
slide, but I was scared to death, and my knuckles must have been white as
I gripped the steering wheel with all my strength. I guess I thought I
could control the road the harder I hung on to the wheel. Also, I was
afraid for my 66-year-old mother and my 5-month-old daughter. What would
happen to them if I lost control of the car? I prayed to the good Lord to
watch over us.
We made it into Tuscaloosa, and surprisingly, there was still a good bit
of traffic activity there. It was enough to give Mama and me confidence
that we could make the trip all the way to Greensboro. But, driving on the
interstate in the snow was considerably different from driving on Highway
69 in HEAVIER snow. The trip was slow going, but there was not even ONE
car to interfere with our progress, until we approached Havana. An
emergency vehicle had stopped two cars coming from the south and wouldn't
allow them to go any farther north. I'm sure they were shocked to see ANY
car coming from Tuscaloosa. The road was completely white and undisturbed
until we went through.
We continued on. The snow was coming down so hard now that visibility was
difficult. Also, it seemed that our headlights became dimmer and dimmer.
Finally, I could not see at all through the windshield. About five miles
out of Greensboro, Mama and I lowered our windows, and she helped guide my
driving from the right by watching out her window while I guided on the
left by sticking my head out the window and watching the left bank of the
highway where the snow contoured when it met the road. It would have been
a beautiful sight if I had been viewing all that snow from the inside of
Mama's warm den, but the only sense I was experiencing right then was the
taste of fear.
I was never so happy to see the lights of Greensboro as I was that night.
The city still had electricity at that time, so we were able to see well
enough to make it down Main Street and then Waller Street and then Mama's
house. When I got out of the car, the first thing I did was to examine the
headlights. I cleared almost 3 inches thick of ice from the glass!
After such a harrowing experience, we did not mind the several days
without electric power. Mama's gas heaters provided heat and a means to
cook for us. We were just thankful to be alive and in a warm and safe
place. I know God took care of us on that dangerous trip, and I will
always be thankful to Him.
Thank you for allowing me to share this story with you.
Kathy Butterworth
Oxford, Alabama
I haven't emailed you before, but I wanted to add to your first
commentary about the blizzard of '93. My husband and I were married March
6, 1993 and we spent our honeymoon in a cabin at Oak Mountain State Park.
We came home from our honeymoon on Thursday evening. I remember another
reason why no one believed there would be a blizzard--it was so warm!!
During our honeymoon, I had actually sunbathed in my bathing suit because
it was very very warm. The weather then was alot like it has been this
weekend. It would be hard for anyone to believe that next week we would
see 1 to 2 feet of snow!! Anyway, if we had stayed one more night at Oak
Mountain, we would have been snowed in on our honeymoon!! What a story
that would have been, since we were in Alabama in March! Another scenario
that I considered was that if we had planned our wedding one week
later--imagine getting married in the snow!! (And we would have went thru
with it!)
We live in Clanton now and did then. My husband has a big 4X4 truck
with a lift kit so it was very high off the ground. We went around town
helping people get their cars out of the snow and just looked around at
how beautiful it was. Later, as we pulled into my mother-in-law's
driveway, his truck got stuck ! There was a snow drift down her drive way
that made that snow to be around 3 or 4 feet deep!! It was amazing, and
now we tell our kids about it. They can't imagine what it was like, of
course. I would hope that we would have a "safe" snow storm like that
again one day.
Thanks for all you do and for all you stand for. You and your staff are
truly an encouragement to me, knowing you are men of faith in God.
--- Nancy Adams
I know you have gotten many
stories of the storm from 93, but I thought I would share mine anyway. I
was a student at Mississippi State at the time and it was our spring
break. Earlier in the week I was enjoying a free vacation to DisneyWorld
with a friend of mine who was working there at the time. I was scheduled
to head home by myself on the Greyhound bus the day before the blizzard
hit. I had no idea of what was to come. My bus left the night before and
naturally I went to sleep only to my surprise to wake up outside of
Atlanta, GA with it snowing. We arrived in downtown Atlanta at the bus
station when they closed the bus station to no buses leaving. So there I
was in downtown Atlanta a small town girl by myself, plus they lost my
luggage. I just left Florida no winter clothes (I think I had a light
jacket). I managed to meet some other girls on vacation and became
friends. We just huddled together for protection and warmth. Thankfully
the Lord was looking out for me. The bus station was cold because a
window had broken on one of the doors. The only place to sit was on the
cold floor. I was there for 2 days. Can you imagine Burger King for
every meal for 2 days because the station would give us vouchers for free
meals. Nothing was moving in Atlanta – no buses- no airplanes-nothing.
The 2nd day we were able to get a hotel room, but to add insult
to injury. I fell and bruised my tailbone while crossing the street to get
to the hotel which tried to jack up the price on us. It was a miserable 2
days in Atlanta. The next day there were still no buses headed home and
still no luggage. I had to buy a sweatshirt in the hotel to keep warm. I
still have the sweatshirt as a memento. There was a ray of hope on the 3rd
day, we heard flights were leaving Atlanta. Granted I had never flown but
I wanted out the downtown bus station in Atlanta. It was very scary. My
parents agreed for me to fly home if I could get to the airport. Finally
a way to get home. I had my first flight on a SMALL airplane that holds
about 20 people that shook the entire way home. I was never so glad to see
my parents and the state of Mississippi. I do not recommend being a
single female stranded in the bus station in Atlanta by your self. I am
so grateful how God was watching out for me and kept me safe. But what an
adventure I have to tell my kids. This experience really allowed me to
experience God’s protection. But if I had to do it again I think I would
have saved up more money and flown home from Florida. But I was a college
student on a shoestring budget. I have told many people my story and are
just amazed I made it. Oh by the way, my luggage arrive about 3 days
after I arrived home in Mississippi. It had taken the southern route
instead of thru Atlanta like me.
Thank you for reading my story.
God Bless
Donna Dear
James,
You can this to your" Blizzard of 93" repertoire:
10 years ago today I was in the US Army stationed in Wiesbaden,
Germany, enjoying the first warm day in a while, even letting my kids go
out and play. I got a call from my Dad at 4 PM. He lives in Moody. I
thought someone had died since he never called me (I always called him).
He said he just wanted to let us know he had 16 inches. I said, "Sixteen
inches of what?", he said, "Sixteen inches of snow, boy!" Three hours
later, armed forces television began carrying CNN Headline News about the
blizzard. My wife and I were shocked.
Two weeks later I got pictures he mailed from that day. I was amazed
then, and still am today.
Holt E. Busbee :-)
