"I am still in shock": Alabama tornado survivors begin road to recovery
Beauregard, Alabama — New details are emerging about the 23 people who were killed when a tornado hit Alabama. Four of the victims were children, and the youngest was just 6. A.J. Hernandez was ripped from his father's arms, two days after singing in his school musical.
David Dean texted a friend that the storm was coming. Dean's son found his body in a neighbor's yard.
Sheila Creech and Marshall Grimes were recently engaged and camping the weekend the tornado hit. But 48 hours later, some are still unaccounted for.
Alina Smith and her two children took cover in the bathroom moments before the EF- 4 tornado with 170 mile per hour winds tore through her neighborhood.
"I just said my prayers. I felt in that moment I was just at peace that we were getting ready to go," she said.
The storm killed 23, including seven from the same family all related to her boyfriend. Two houses down, 63-year-old Raymond Robinson Jr. and his wife Tresia were killed when the tornado leveled their home. Across the street, first responders found the body of 57-year-old Maggie Robinson.
Smith said it's "mind blowing" she survived.
"I am still in shock," she said.
Three days after the tornado, search and rescue crews are still looking for people who are missing. But instead of a wide area they are now going to individual addresses and sifting through the debris trying to find people who family members say are still missing.
"At this point the current number we are looking at is seven to eight people, it has come down, way down from what we initially had," said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones.
It will take months for Beauregard residents to recover from something many say they'll never forget.
"It will never be the same," Smith said.
