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    What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley
    What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley
    What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley
    Audiobook9 hours

    What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley

    Written by Kim Cross

    Narrated by Tracy Brunjes

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    April 27, 2011 marked the climax of a superstorm that saw a record 358 tornadoes rip through twenty-one states in three days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes. It was the deadliest day of the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history, which saw 348 people killed, entire neighborhoods erased, and $11 billion in damage. But from the terrible destruction emerged everyday heroes, neighbors, and strangers who rescued each other from hell on earth.

    With powerful emotion and gripping detail, Kim Cross weaves together the heart-wrenching stories of several characters-including three college students, a celebrity weatherman, and a team of hard-hit rescuers-to create a nail-biting chronicle in the Tornado Alley of America. No, it's not Oklahoma or Kansas; it's Alabama, where there are more tornado fatalities than anywhere in the U.S., where the trees and hills obscure the storms until they're bearing down upon you. For some, it's a story of survival, and for others it's the story of their last hours.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 21, 2015
    ISBN9781494581558
    What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley
    Author

    Kim Cross

    Kim Cross is an editor-at-large for Southern Living and a feature writer who has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of American Travel Writers, and the Media Industry Newsletter. Her writing has appeared in Outside, Cooking Light, Bicycling, Runner’s World, The Tampa Bay Times, The Birmingham News, The Anniston Star, USA TODAY, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, and CNN.com. She lives in Alabama.

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    Reviews for What Stands in a Storm

    4.5/5

    53 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      April 27, 2011, marked the climax of a superstorm that saw a record 358 tornadoes rip through twenty-one states in three days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes. It was the deadliest day of the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history, which saw 348 people killed, entire neighborhoods erased, and $11 billion in damage." This is a heartbreaking yet hopeful tale of the the explosive power of nature and the uncommon strength of ordinary "heroes". Tornado Alley (Alabama)...more tornado fatalities than anywhere in the US This account is definitely worth your attention.
    • 5/5
      Reads like a novel. Might have been better to read it in the winter. Big storms are going to give me the jumps for awhile.
    • 5/5
      If you are fascinated by the power of Mother Nature as displayed in tornadoes you need to read this book. It’s nonfiction, but the plot tells the stories of those who witnessed the events and in doing so brought me to tears several times.
    • 5/5
      This powerful book grabs you into its pages and like the tornados, it spirals your emotions on a wild ride. It is a true story of the grisly damage done by the 62 tornados that took place in Alabama on April 27, 2011. Nevertheless, the author does not just focus on the horror of the situation, providing also the courage, strength, community's uniting, and the strength to move on after this catastrophe. I found not one bad thing about the writing of this book. It is written in three different sections: the storm, aftermath, and recovery making the story come together exceedingly well.

      I learned an immense amount of information about weather and meteorology such as all the history behind it including the accidental discovery of radar, how the tornado sirens came to be, the first airplanes P-61C's to fly into tornados taking the first measurements of them, in conclusion, the remarkable groundwork accomplished to get science where it is today.

      The book will have you shedding tears as you go along on the journeys of people losing loved ones. The turmoil of losing everything a person had plus the place where they once felt safe had called home. Henceforth, you will be smiling with joy when you read about people helping others they do not know. Also, when a ghastly event proves that compassion still lives inside us all even towards a rival. This book just blew me away (no pun intended). Thank you, Kim Cross for taking me on this adventure.

      "Thanks Netgalley for letting me give an honest opinion of this book"



    • 5/5
      What Stands in a Storm by Kim Cross is a very highly recommended account of the April, 2011 superstorm tornado outbreak in Alabama. If you are a weather geek or live anywhere prone to tornadic activity, this book should be a must-read. Having grown up and lived much of my life in the region that most people think of when they hear "tornado alley," I have plenty of tornado memories, close calls, and stories of my own, but certainly nothing that even reaches close to the heart breaking devastation Cross describes in this account that is an expanded version of an article that first appeared in Southern Living magazine.

      In the foreward Rick Bragg writes: "April 27, 2011, became the deadliest day of the biggest tornado outbreak in the history of recorded weather. It was the climax of a superstorm that unleashed terror upon twenty-one states—from Texas to New York—in three days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes. Entire communities were flattened, whole neighborhoods erased, in seconds, by the wind. This was an epic storm in an epic month: April 2011 saw three separate outbreaks and a record 757 tornadoes—nearly half of which (349) occurred during the April 24-27 outbreak that inspired this book."

      The book is divided up into three sections: “The Storm,” “The Aftermath” and “The Recovery.” The first section introduces us to the people who will play a prominent role in subsequent stories and provides some information of the history of forecasting. Cross tells the story through the individuals who lived it, including meteorologists, storm chasers, and the individuals caught in the storms, some who survived and some who did not. The book reflects the year of extensive research and interviews Cross undertook in order to present the information and the story in a very approachable, caring, personal way that humanizes the event that claimed 348 lives in 72 hours.

      Most of the dramatic footage you see of tornadoes are from the Great Plains, the marked tornado alley, where the wide open relatively flat land allows you to see a storm coming from miles away. In Alabama, the terrain of the land and the amount of trees obscure residents view of the sky. There are also a plethora of old wives tales and folk lore about the movement or directions tornadoes will or won't take that are simply not true. (I've heard many of these over the years and have tried to explain to more than one person that their facts are not true at all.)

      This extremely well written account of the storm and the aftermath is heart breaking, but there is a resilience and neighborliness in the South that transcends the devastating aftermath of the storms. Cross captures the essence of this in the August 2011 edition of Southern Living:
      "But that same geography that left us in the path of this destruction also created, across generations, a way of life that would not come to pieces inside that storm, nailed together from old-fashioned things like human kindness, courage, utter selflessness, and, yes, defiance, even standing inside a roofless house. As Southerners, we know a man with a chain saw is worth ten with a clipboard, that there is no hurt in this world, even in the storm of the century, that cannot be comforted with a casserole, and that faith, in the hereafter or in neighbors who help you through the here and now, cannot be knocked down."

      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Atria Books for review purposes.
    • 5/5
      In 2011, Alabama was hit with a record 358 tornadoes over a three day period. This book follows several people as they attempted to survive the storms. This book was really an emotional roller coaster. My heart went out to the victims and their families. I found the weathermen, storm chaser and others who sent out warnings to be heroic. Overall, a well written book, one worth picking up.
    • 5/5
      Most everyone knows about tornados. We all have seen news footage of them as well as the aftermath. Some people have even experienced them first hand, and the aftermath. Maybe those who have lived in an area where tornados are frequent know all about them, or think they do. For everyone else Kim Cross's book What Stands in A Storm will make you think twice about what your behavior will be the next time you find yourself in an area under a tornado warning.What Stands In A Storm is about a horrific outbreak of tornados that hit Alabama April 24-27th. In the month of April 757 tornados were reported in the United States, shattering all previous records. On April 27th, 62 of them hit Alabama.What Stands In A Storm puts the reader in the expert hands of a writer so adept at telling a story, you will feel that what is happening in the book, is happening to you. She explains the science of tornados, as well as why they are so hard to pin down, the author highlights a number of people who lived through this terrifying ordeal, as well as some people who did not, who through no fault on their part were directly in the path, of pure devastation.What the writer of this book does exceptionally well is to personalize the experience the reader feels what the people living through this storm feel, and it makes this book a very powerful experience.This is an outstanding book that will hopefully be widely read.
    • 5/5
      What Stands in a Storm is the true story of the tornadoes that struck Alabama and neighboring states in April, 2011. There were a record number of tornadoes during this time period in April that occurred in 21 states but the hardest hit was Alabama. The author of the book, Kim Cross, tells the stories of several people who were in the tornado areas. She made the stories so real by using texts and interviewing them or family members. She did such a fantastic job that I must admit I was nervous as the tornado got closer to the people she had introduced us to and I cried during parts of the book - some were tears of sadness and some tears of joy. The book had some technical information about weather systems but it wasn't dry and confusing but actually very interesting. Overall this was a great book that showed not only the power of the mother nature but more importantly the resilience of the people after the storm who reached out to help their neighbors with whatever they had left to share. I highly recommend this book to everyone.