FTAGOD
New member
PISGAH, Ala. – The tornadoes followed each other as if guided by rails, three times over 10 terrifying hours, straight at the little cluster of homes where Joseph Wayne Haney and his relatives lived.
The first crushed Haney's wife to death under a piano. The second twisted menacingly overhead but didn't touch down. And the third, a true monster, blew the neighborhood to pieces, killing two more of his kin.
On a day that sowed heartbreak throughout the South, this close-knit family received more than its share of the sky's rage.
"It came back," Haney said, blinking back tears outside a funeral home on Saturday. "It came back the same path, and it killed more."
In Pisgah, like elsewhere, it happened with blinding speed.
Haney was asleep in the living room recliner when his wife, Kathy Gray Haney, woke him.
"She said, 'I think there's a tornado,'" Haney said. "And just as she said the word 'tornado,' it hit us."
Their mobile home heaved into the air and slammed into a line of trees. Their piano landed on the couple, and the rest of the house collapsed on top of it. The family Bible landed next to them.
As the wind screamed, Haney said, he wrapped his arms around his wife's legs and tried to pull her to him.
"She said 'Honey, I love you, and I'm hurting,'" Haney said.
The first crushed Haney's wife to death under a piano. The second twisted menacingly overhead but didn't touch down. And the third, a true monster, blew the neighborhood to pieces, killing two more of his kin.
On a day that sowed heartbreak throughout the South, this close-knit family received more than its share of the sky's rage.
"It came back," Haney said, blinking back tears outside a funeral home on Saturday. "It came back the same path, and it killed more."
In Pisgah, like elsewhere, it happened with blinding speed.
Haney was asleep in the living room recliner when his wife, Kathy Gray Haney, woke him.
"She said, 'I think there's a tornado,'" Haney said. "And just as she said the word 'tornado,' it hit us."
Their mobile home heaved into the air and slammed into a line of trees. Their piano landed on the couple, and the rest of the house collapsed on top of it. The family Bible landed next to them.
As the wind screamed, Haney said, he wrapped his arms around his wife's legs and tried to pull her to him.
"She said 'Honey, I love you, and I'm hurting,'" Haney said.
