Photographer recalls April 27, 2011

April 27, 2011 was just one day of a multi-day outbreak.
I was helping a photographer friend from Tuscaloosa shoot a wedding in St. Louis. We drove up from Tuscaloosa in the days and before April 27 and ran into storms in Arkansas and we stopped to take some pictures there. We made it to St. Louis and were staying at a hotel near the airport when the airport got hit by a tornado. We took pics near that area the next day.
On the drive back, we stayed in Memphis, Tenn., where there were multiple tornado warnings all that day. We got back to Tuscaloosa and April 27 happens. I was able to take some pretty crazy pictures in town that were later featured on CBS News.
I ended up driving back to Marion County the next day to be with my family in Hamilton. There was no power here for a few days. From there, I managed to make it into Hackleburg to help out some relatives and in-laws whose homes were destroyed. I, along with some other family members, had to drive through the backroads to avoid the roadblocks. I took pics of the destruction and went back a few times.