Reporter: Rachel Schaerr l Videographer: Steve Smith
Forest, VA - A University of Alabama student returned home Friday night after spending the last three weeks cleaning up the toppled town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
While the EF-5 tornado rocked the college town, freshman Emily Broman crouched in a basement dormitory waiting for the storm to subside.
"We had no way of knowing that this was going to be an F-5 tornado," she said.
Just a few blocks away from campus, the worst of the devastation - strip malls were leveled, cars were toppled and at least five fellow Alabama students were dead.
"At that point I was thinking, 'wow, this is changing my life right now. This is changing what I'm called to do now with the time that I'm in Tuscaloosa,'" she said.
But instead of finals week, all Alabama students were told to return home. Emily's dad, Geb Broman, remembers the long drive.
"We drove all night, drove through a lot of devastation, even in Virginia, to go down and get her. When we finally picked her up in Birmingham it was just a big relief."
For the last three weeks Emily Broman and 24 other members of the University of Alabama Honor's College Fellows Program were back in Tuscaloosa where they removed debris, worked at donation centers and coordinated with other volunteers.
"All 25 of us were freshmen and so essentially, for us, this was more of a beginning and exposure of what we need to be doing for the rest of our four years," Broman said.
"There are no words for what we've experienced, what we've gone through and the sense of obligation that now comes with being a member of the Tuscaloosa community."
Broman looks forward to returning to Tuscaloosa this fall for her Sophomore year.
