Although hundreds of miles away from Auburn, the tornado that hit Moore, Okla. on Monday, May 20 was far too close to home for Carson Stroud, junior in aviation management.
While Stroud grew up in Greenwood, S.C., his parents and younger brother currently reside in Moore, and were there when the storm struck.
A 2.5 mile wide tornado with reported winds up to 200 miles per hour and an EF-5 ranking - the most powerful type of tornado - hit Moore at approximately 3 p.m. Thousands were displaced from their homes, with hundreds injured and 24 people killed.
Stroud said his family's home was about a mile from the tornado's destructive path.
"We're extremely blessed, our house wasn't damaged," he said.
During the storm, Stroud said his mom and brother were at home while his dad was at work, which was approximately 40 minutes east of Moore and out of the tornado's path. His mom and brother actually watched the tornado descend and come through their town, Stroud said, and then went down to their storm shelter to ride it out.
While his family was out of harm's way, Stroud said he didn't know until a few hours after the tornado was over that they were O.K. because of power outages and poor cell phone service.
"It was incredibly stressful for me," Stroud said. "I was at work when I found out and I couldn't get in touch with my mom for several hours. I didn't know if she was alright."
Stroud's home and his brother's school were not damaged during the storm, but many areas, particularly in east Moore, have substantial damage.
"There used to be blocks and blocks of houses, and now there's sticks where the houses were," Stroud said. "My mom said there's flipped up cars everywhere, there's telephone poles that are bent at 90-degree angles. It looks like a bomb went off."
The community and national support, however, has been incredibly, according to Stroud.
"From what I understand, everyone's banded together pretty much. They're helping each other out as best as they can, whether it means a meal or clothes."
Stroud said his family is doing everything they can to help out others in their community.
"One of my brother's best friends lost his house completely, so they're sheltering him and getting him some clothes because he has nothing left," he said.
Additionally, his family has garnered support from friends back in South Carolina. Stroud said they're getting clothes together from the Greenwood community, and have an account set up at a bank for people to donate money through.
Stroud said he wanted to go out to Moore to help, but it would be too chaotic so close after the disaster. He hopes to visit within the next month.
There are many ways for people in Auburn to help out, Stroud said, and that the Red Cross and Salvation Army are great organizations to donate through.
"If people can help, please help," Stroud said. "It hits kind of close to home (for) people that live in Alabama, seeing what happened in Tuscaloosa. We just don't realized how bad that really is. It's very scary. If I could sum it up in one word, it's unreal. You don't realize how bad it is until you go through it."
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