The deadly tornado outbreak that ripped through Alabama and Georgia missed them but ravaged Tuscaloosa, where the college is located.

More than 300 people died and many homes and businesses were obliterated.

The siblings - Danielle, a junior, and Lee, a freshman - left campus early after the tornadoes cancelled the rest of the semester.

In an interview, they talked about huddling in their dorms as the storm passed and the destruction they saw once the skies cleared.

Q: Tornadoes are not uncommon in Alabama. Did you have any clue that the weather would be so severe that day?

Danielle: We had extremely volatile weather this April, and the staff is always good at getting people to safety. The sirens went off five times in the past month, and it was always nothing.

But that Wednesday, we had a bad storm about 5 a.m. When it was over, the day was sunny as we went out.

But the weatherman said to expect the worst storms he'd seen in over 30 years, so I knew to keep my eyes open. When I got out of class at 3:30 p.m., the sirens were going off, and I quickly went back to my dorm room.

Lee: We did have a pretty good warning. We get things called "UA Alerts," which are texts to alert us about upcoming storms.

I was on my way to play Frisbee with friends, but when the weather started getting bad, we headed back to my dorm.

We still didn't think it was anything big. But then we lost TV, Internet, power, and we all went to the first floor and stayed in a hallway with no windows. We were there for about 15 to 20 minutes, and then it was all over.

Q: When you ventured out, how did campus look?

Lee: We didn't have Internet, and we couldn't get in touch with other people, so that night, we walked over to McFarland [Boulevard] and 15th Street. That's where we saw all the devastation.

Danielle: My favorite Japanese restaurant there was leveled, and many fast food restaurants were hit. That area is the fourth busiest intersection in Alabama.

Campus was left mostly untouched, or at least it was nothing compared to what happened in the Forest Lake area, homes where students and families live. One of my friends rode out the storm by hiding under a mattress there.

A tree fell on the house where one of my best friends lives.

Also devastated was the Alberta area, where many of the people who work in our dining halls live. The last I heard, there were 200 people missing from that area. These are people we know, people we see every day.

Q: I heard you both went out to help clean up after the storm. What did you see, and what did you do?

Lee: I woke up early Thursday morning and saw how bad the traffic was near the destruction - there were no traffic lights that were working. There were Army Hummers everywhere, and there were police officers from as far away as Orange Beach [about five hours south].

Danielle: We brought coffee to people helping out, and we brought water and sandwiches to volunteers.

Lee helped patch up roofs, and we helped clear away debris - but it was hard to know where to start.

Q: I bet it was a difficult decision to leave. Where do you go from here?

Danielle: The university told all the students to go home, if they could get there safely.

We were using resources that were needed. Social media has really helped us keep up with what we can do.

Twitter and Facebook let us see early on where they needed volunteers and now we can tell what to donate.

I got home earlier than I expected to, but I'll be starting my second summer interning with Sageworks, a financial software firm, and finishing my Spanish minor while studying abroad in Spain.

Lee: I'm still trying to contact my instructors to figure out whether I should re-schedule my final exams or opt to take my current grade. I'll be taking Calculus I and II at N.C. State this summer and lifeguarding at the Cary YMCA.