Breaking news: After tornado, stone age conditions exist in Huntsville, Ala.

(Photo courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory - April 27, 2011)

Relatives and friends in Huntsville, Ala. report the tornado which hit the Space Center town, also home of Redstone Arsenal, caused death, destruction, and damage yesterday.

Some have decided to leave the state and not return until electric service is restored. Those traveling to Georgia say traffic lights are not working until you reach Rome, Ga. which is 128 miles away.

Students at A&M University have been told to leave campus, even out-of-state freshman with no gas to reach home or the airport. Other students are calling the local radio station to match them up with households that will take them in.

Times are hard in this part of North Alabama, but many inhabitants are just glad to have a roof over their heads.

"It's like we're back in the Stone Age," said Robert McCoy who lives in North Huntsville. An engineer, McCoy is living without electricity and has no gas for his generator. "The only thing that protected us was the big hill behind our house," McCoy said.

His wife, Alice, who is a nurse at Huntsville Hospital, has been working non-stop. Nine deaths resulting from the storm's fury have been reported. The 2010 census sets the population of the Huntsville Metropolitan area at 417,593.

Mary Billings, a university student counselor, said Pulaski Pike near her home was "just terrible," but she was not leaving her house because of reports of looting. "We're riding it out," said Billings who has enough food and water but no electricity.

Her husband's cousin, who lived in nearby Harvest, Ala., was killed and his two story home destroyed. "His house was completely wiped off the slab, and only three front steps are left," Billings said. "Because of the gas situation, we may not be able to make it to his funeral."

Katie Morris, who works at Albert's Flowers, the family business, said employees and customers found safety in the flower shop's refrigerator until the storm passed. On the way home, Morris stopped at Costco for 30 minutes where customers were herded into the freezer for their safety.

"Landlines are down and cell phone service is sporadic," Morris said. "Bank customers are being allowed to get up to $100 from their accounts, only if bank personnel know them personally."

Most businesses are closed because power supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in northern Alabama has been disrupted. A few banks are working off emergency generators, and some customers have taken all their money out of their accounts.

"If you don't have cash, you can't buy anything, and if you need to get gas, you have to drive to Tennessee because the pumps here are not working," McCoy said. Both McCoy and Morris said city officials have predicted it will be five days before power is restored.

According to Wikipedia, a tornado is described as "a twister, cyclone or violent, dangerous, rotating column of air." A dusk to dawn curfew is in affect until further notice, and police are patrolling the streets.

©2011 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.