On Thursday of last week, I got an ordinary e-mail message from my friend Karen in Huntsville, Alabama.  Later that day, I heard the news about the tornadoes that flattened so much of northern Alabama and was concerned about the safety of her and her husband.  I tried calling them, knowing there was little chance that I'd reach them.

Each day, I checked the Alabama news sites online, trying to find out more.  Northern Alabama gets most of its electricity from a big Tennessee Valley Authority hydro dam.  Many of its long-distance transmission towers were knocked down by tornadoes, so restoring power wasn't a matter of just putting up some new lines.  They had to put poles or towers back up, or install new ones where the old ones were destroyed.  In the wake of the storms, more than 1 million home and business customers were without power.

Each day I tried to call them.  The phone rang and rang, with no answer or answering machine.  On Monday morning, I finally got the machine, answering two questions - power was back and phone service was working.  Later that day, Karen called me back.   Power was restored to many areas on Monday, but others are still in the dark today.

They spent most of a day and a half taking shelter in the safest spot in their house.  Between storms, her husband and a few neighbors went out and removed downed trees from road in case anyone might need to get in or out in an emergency.  They have a generator that provides enough power to keep the food cold, and allow them to have a few lights and be able to cook.  They shared refrigerator  and freezer space with neighbors without generators. 

When gas was running low, her husband started driving to find some to keep the generator going.  With no power in their area, gas stations were shut down, because the pumps couldn't operate.  Even when he started finding areas with power, stations were out of gas.  He ended up driving 2 hours into middle Tennessee to find an open gas station with gas so they could keep the generator running.

Land line phones weren't working.  Due to power outage, cell towers weren't working, so there was no cell service.  They were in the dark and out of touch with the world until Sunday night, when the lights came back on.  The phone was still out until Monday morning, when I called and got their answering machine. 

I was going to get the mail when she called.  As I heard her voice, I flipped through the stack of mail and found a postcard she'd mailed on Friday, saying that they had no power but were okay.  I was reading the card as she told me about their ordeal.  I told her that I'd been following Alabama news online.  Her comment:  "You probably know more about what's been happening outside neighborhood than we do right now."

Now that they have internet service again, she e-mailed me this picture of a twister that passed very near their house.  They did not take this picture from their house, but got it from a friend who lives a few miles away.

 It's easy to take basic things like power, phone service and gas for granted until we don't have them.  It's not easy to replace old friends.