Victim of Alabama tornado recounts experience - NBC12 - WWBT - Richmond, VA News On Your Side

Victim of Alabama tornado recounts experience

RAINSVILLE, AL (WWBT)-  DeKalb County Alabama, suffered more fatalities than any region in America in this latest brush of severe weather.

Scottie Hufstedler saw the storm first hand. He has close family in Louisa.  He told us about his harrowing experience from his hospital bed in Alabama.

He considers himself to be "blessed to still be alive."

You've seen the pictures shown countless times in TV news reports, dramatic video of huge tornadoes sweeping through places like Alabama.

While you saw it on T.V. Scottie Hufstedler lived through it.

"I've never seen anything so big in my life as what went through here," he said.

Hufstedler is recovering from a broken pelvis, but he is thankful his is alive. He said the storm swept through without much notice.

"All of the sudden I look out the window and I saw debris going around and around," said Hufstedler.

In fact he saw more than debris. Cars were picked up and tossed from the road.

At the time, Scottie was bunkered down in a Huddle House restaurant. Directly across the street was a local school auditorium, packed with people at an event.

"I knew when I could see the seats inside the coliseum that this would be bad," he said.  

Both the Coliseum and the Huddle House were completely destroyed.  One of the main reasons Scottie considers himself more than lucky.

 "I am blessed, my God is my best buddy," Scottie said. "When it started, I just looked to him and said let's go".

It is a journey that started with a major storm, and will continue with a difficult recovery and a major clean-up.

Scottie has more than just his pelvis to worry about. He hasn't seen it yet, but is told that his home lost its roof and is badly damaged from the storm.

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