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...Cleanup continued today after the devastating tornado that ripped through the Old Wax Road area on Saturday.
Emergency management officials, law enforcement personnel, public work crews and friends and neighbors helped the hardest-hit families recover.
Several homes in southeastern Floyd County were destroyed, many others damaged and two people were killed — one in Floyd and one in Polk counties — during the storms, which rolled through early Saturday afternoon.
Crews with chainsaws and heavy equipment today were removing trees that had fallen across yards, roads and houses while workers and volunteers helped put tarps over damaged roofs. Families and friends were sifting through the rubble of houses that were flattened, trying to find valuables and keepsakes.
A command post was set up at Flint Hill Baptist Church at the corner of Morris Road and Wax Road, where law enforcement and emergency agencies coordinated clean up and relief efforts.
Tim Farrell and o
Volunteer removes debris from a destroyed home along Old Wax Road today. Ken Caruthers/RNT |
thers from the Salvation Army brought a truck of food and supplies to set up at the Flint Hill Baptist Christian Life Center, and volunteers from the American Red Cross were also on hand to aid surviving families.
“We can pretty much try to help with whatever they need,” said Farrell. “We brought some meals for them and for those helping with the cleanup, and we’ll be here as long as they need it.”
After surveying the scene from the air, representatives from the National Weather Service said the tornado was an F-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
“After taking an aerial view, it was determined that it was an F-3 and produced 150-mph winds,” said Lans Rothfusz, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. “It was about a seven-and-a-half mile path. The storm had a mix of all the right ingredients — a warm-front boundary not moving, some heating and the wind profile was just right.”
Michael Dills, who lives just a few miles down on Wax Road, stopped by the command center at the church, offering to help in any way he could.
“It was a blessing that we weren’t hurt, and as our preacher has said, as Christians we need to be the first ones out there to help people when they need it,” Dills said. “I know that if I was in that situation, it would make my day if someone came to help me.”
Another individual helping today was Sgt. James Davenport of the GSP, who lives in the area hit by the storm.
"Once I got my family to safety, I started to get and check on some other families," said Davenport of Saturday's natural disaster.
He saw the funnel cloud that wreaked havoc on his South Floyd County community.
"It's helpless, seeing something of that magnitude," he said. "You just wonder what to do.
"You hear about it happening and what it's like, but we had a front-row seat."
Return to www.romenews-tribune.com for developing details and photos from the scene.
One death was confirmed in a house destroyed in southeastern Floyd County on Old Wax Road south of Brumbelow Road, according Scotty Hancock, Floyd County EMA director.
The victim was identified as Jerry Paul Albers, 71, of 433 Old Wax Road S.E., said Deputy Coroner Ernie Studard.
Chief Deputy Coroner Tony Cooper pronounced Albers dead at the scene at 2:14 p.m., Studard said. Albers was a member of Second Avenue Methodist Church in Rome and had retired from the accounting department at Floyd Medical Center.
Click here for video coverage of the storm damage.
Click here and here for photos.
Ten homes in the area were moderately damaged, and another five were "totally destroyed," Hancock said. Most of the damage in Floyd County was on Old Wax Road just north of the Polk County line.
Bonnie Turner, age unavailable, of Live Oak Road, north of Aragon, was killed when the twister hit her home, police said.
A family friend from Florida, Jo Trapp, said Bonnie Turner's husband Mike Turner was transferred to Erlanger Medical Center, in Chattanooga, Tenn. He suffered arm, ankle, lower back and internal injuries.
The Turners raised American hairless terriers, and some of their dogs are still missing.
Several homes were reportedly damaged in the Wax Road and Live Oak Road area in Aragon.
In Floyd County, emergency responders set up a command center at Flint Hill Baptist Church at Morris and Wax roads to treat those injured and to coordinate rescue efforts.
Two unidentified people were also injured when their car was tossed off the road. Their conditions could not be determined.
Curtis Hart, a spokesman with Georgia Power, said about 1,500 customers lost power in Floyd County and about 7,500 in Bartow County were in the dark.
OTHER HEADLINES:
Community hit hard by tornado
Polk kennel destroyed in storm; dogs may be lost or dead
Click here for a story about 1994 Palm Sunday tornado, and here for the front page of the Rome News-Tribune featuring the story.
Rome News-Tribune staffers Mike Colombo, Lindsay Field, David Royal, Bryant Steele, Lowell Vickers, Ken Caruthers, Aimee Harmison, Elizabeth Cady and William T. Martin contributed to the coverage.
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