Americus, hospital plan to rebuild from the ruins

Sumter Regional Hospital, Americus, Ga., Feb. 4, 2008. (Dave Bender)

On March first of last year, a tornado ripped through Americus, killing two and devastating the community. What did the city learn and what are their plans if such a disaster strikes again?

The force-3 twister ripped apart lives, homes, businesses and vehicles in a two-mile wide-swath of destruction. Although much of the external damage has been fixed, city and county officials are still dealing with deeper issues of planning and preparation.

Mary Ann Crowley directs the Americus chapter of Habitat for Humanity:

“These kinds of events and catastrophes in the lives of communities are not 30-minute sitcoms. They don't start and end when you want them to. You can't do the instant replay and skip the parts that you don't like.”

Crowley says that long time residents of Habitat homes damaged in the tornado faced a welter of legal and insurance issues over ownership, that only a year later have been cleared up.

Little of the physical damage is left, according to Americus Mayor Barry Blount:

"Within 69 days the community was, essentially, cleaned up. The rebuilding, reconstruction has gone on - if you ride through town, you can see new buildings have been put up in place of the buildings that have been destroyed. We do still have some structures that are still, haven't been rebuilt; there are still some issues with insurance companies...”

But the biggest issue in town is the local hospital. Sumter County Regional was destroyed by the tornado.

A new interim facility will open in March, exactly one year after the disaster. A completely new hospital is planned to open by 2010.

The hospital is holding a fundraiser – one of several. They're selling off the bricks of the original 1953 structure, after the bulldozers bring them down.

But other shocks to Sumter County's system are still not resolved.

Blount says there's still no county-wide emergency warning system. The city has turned to the Federal and Georgia Emergency Management Authorities for help:

“We've applied for some grants from FEMA and GEMA; thus far, we have not received any for an emergency warning system.”

Blount is hopeful he'll get such a system in the coming year. But one thing has changed for the better since the tornado - communication between the Police, Sheriffs Department, city and county rescue services:

“We have rectified that, so that now all the different emergency personnel can communicate with one another.”

Turning to the home front, Blount says he's told residents that first and foremost they have to get their own houses in order. That means a supply of non-perishable food, water, an evacuation plan and an emergency radio with fresh batteries.

Blount's comments echo the “YOYO-72” idea, stressing individual preparation: You're On You're On for the first 72-hours.

On February 29th, Americus is planning a commemoration of that tornado-stricken night.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado, and efforts to rebuild Americus and lives affected by the storms.

Tornado Confirmed in NE Georgia Saturday

Violent storms that moved across north Georgia Saturday spawned at least one confirmed tornado in northeast Georgia.

The National Weather Service in Greenville, SC said a tornado touched down in Franklin and Hart County Saturday afternoon.

“The tornado moved across an intermediate track from Franklin Springs in Franklin County to just south of Royston in Hart County. Winds were estimated to be between 70 and 80mph along this track,” explained meteorologist John Tomko.

Tomko said the EF1 tornado cut a swath about three miles long.

Franklin Springs residents in the path of the storm reported numerous downed trees and power lines, but no injuries. Hart County EMC, which serves the area reported about 1,000 homes without power.

Royston reported dime-sized hail, but no major damage and no injuries.

Meantime in Banks County, shoppers at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Commerce reported being stuck for a time Saturday afternoon as strong winds, rain, and dime-sized hail battered the area, but no major damage was reported.

Body Found in Atlanta Tornado Rubble

Georgia counties affected by the March 14-16th storms. (Courtesy GEMA)

Workers found a body on Saturday while clearing rubble from a building damaged over a week ago when a tornado slammed into downtown Atlanta, police said.

"We may have the first tornado victim in the city of Atlanta, but we won't know for sure until the medical examiner"returns with results, Officer James Polite said.

The man had no identification, but he was wearing a wedding band, Polite said.

The front of the damaged building had been a store and the rear had been rented out to a local church. Workers using a Bobcat to scoop up bricks and debris saw a hand sticking out of the rubble and called police, Polite said.

"We believe the man was seeking shelter from the storm and did not make it into the building," Polite said. "He was facing the wall when we found him."

Investigators brought in two cadaver dogs to search the rubble, which was east of downtown, but no other bodies were found.

The twister struck the city with little warning March 14, cutting a 6-mile path of destruction through the city with winds gusting up to 130 miles per hour. At least 27 people were injured.

Another tornado that hit northwest Georgia on March 15 killed two Polk County residents.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado.

Oxendine: Over $150 million in Atlanta storm damage

Click here for the latest National Weather Service update.

People get out and survey the damage in Atlanta's Cabbage Town neighborhood. At least 27 people were hurt Friday night, though no injuries were believed to be life-threatening. (AP Photo/John Amis)

State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine estimated damage from Friday night's storm at $150 million to $200 million.

Tens of thousands of basketball fans at two Atlanta arenas were perfectly safe, officials insisted Saturday, even though the crowds apparently weren't warned about an approaching tornado — one that would ravage skyscrapers and injure dozens.

About 18,000 people were watching the Southeastern Conference men's tournament Friday night at the Georgia Dome when its fabric roof began rippling, the catwalks above the court started swaying and chunks of insulation rained onto the players.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning about eight minutes before the twister hit, but it wasn't clear when or if that alert was passed on to fans, said Katy Pando, a dome spokeswoman. Fans claimed they never heard or saw one.

Another 16,000 fans watching an NBA game at Philips Arena, in the same complex as the dome, weren't told of the weather, either. The arena apparently sustained little damage, Atlanta Hawks spokesman Arthur Triche said.

Governor Sonny Perdue and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin declared a state of emergency in several areas in Atlanta.

A sign rests atop four cars in a downtown Atlanta parking lot after a tornado touched down Friday evening, pictured Saturday March 15, 2008. (AP / Ron Williams)

The tornado, with wind up to 130 mph, cut a 6-mile path through downtown Atlanta, smashing hundreds of windows in and around the CNN Center, blowing furniture and luggage out of hotel rooms and crumbling part of an apartment building.

A cab sits in the debris in front of CNN Center in downtown Atlanta Friday, March 14, 2008.
(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

At least two people died in Polk and Floyd counties from the storms. A third is reported in critical condition.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the storm damage in downtown Atlanta Friday evening.

Click here for tornado and severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service for the Atlanta area and statewide.

(The Associated Press)

UGA Study Shows Drought-Tornado Link

A University of Georgia researcher says there’s a surprising connection between periods of drought and the number of tornadoes that strike the Southeast.

The past two springs have produced numerous and damaging twisters. Several hit north, central and south Georgia this February through April. And it was the destructive March 2008 Atlanta tornado that spurred Marshall Shepherd to launch a study--is it rare to see such activity, coming out of drought conditions of the previous fall and winter seasons?

The associate professor with UGA’s Atmospheric Sciences Department went back through decades of records, finding this result 93-percent of the time in the southeast:

"The strongest statistical result that is related to the fact that when there’s drought there’s below normal activity. We haven’t been able to establish a strong link that suggests when the fall and winter is wetter, that you have even more tornadoes the following spring."

Shepherd says he wants to compare this research with that from the tornado-alleys of the Midwest. He says further study could lead forecasters to better predict seasonal tornado-activity…much like hurricane predictions made annually.

Report: schools need tornado-proof room

Federal weather officials said a March 1st tornado outbreak that struck Alabama and Georgia, killing eight students huddled inside Enterprise High School in Alabama, showed the need for a "hardened safe room" for use during storms.

The National Weather Service says in its report today that Enterprise school officials and students followed appropriate safety measures before and during the tornado, but the storm demonstrated the need for a safe-room shelter. Besides the deaths in Enterprise, the tornado outbreak killed six people in a mobile home park near Newton, Ggeorgia, and five others elsewhere in Alabama and Georgia.

The Weather Service report says a total of 31 verified tornadoes struck 45 counties in Georgia and south Alabama, including 13 packing winds of 113 miles an hour or stronger. The deadliest hit Enterprise with winds of 200 miles an hour.

Tornado Warning Across N. Georgia (UPDATE)

---UPDATE:

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN WALKER COUNTY IS CANCELLED...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM HAS EXITED WALKER COUNTY.

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 615 PM EST FOR MURRAY...SOUTHEASTERN WHITFIELD...GORDON AND NORTHERN BARTOW COUNTIES...

AT 545 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS UP TO 60 MPH. THESE STORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM CHATSWORTH TO AUDUBON TO ADAIRSVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.

OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO ETON... REDBUD...RAMHURST...FARMVILLE...FORT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK...FOLSOM...SONORAVILLE...OAKMAN...CARTERS...RANGER...FUNKHOUSER AND FAIRMOUNT.

---

A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5:45 PM EST FOR EASTERN CHATTOOGA AND FLOYD COUNTIES...

AT 524 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A LINE OF TORNADO PRODUCING STORMS. THESE TORNADO PRODUCING

STORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM EVERETT SPRINGS TO ARMUCHEE TO ROME...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

A ROOF WAS BLOWN OFF A HOME NEAR HOLLAND! THIS IS A DANGEROUS LINE OF STORMS.

OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO SHANNON AND PINSON.

Click here for detailed National Weather Service updates.

Sumter County tornado aid tops $11M

Path of March 1 tornado through Americus, GA.
Click on image for larger view. (Dave Bender)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) say that over $11.1 million in federal disaster aid has been approved for area residents, The Americus Times-Recorder reports.

The Disaster Loan Outreach Center located in Sumter County will close Wednesday, May 2. The center was set up in the wake of the lethal tornado that mauled Americus and other areas in southwestern Georgia on March 1.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), in a press release urges disaster victims to "visit the Center before the closing to obtain one-on-one assistance and information about SBA's disaster assistance program."

The Center is located at:
John Pope Industrial Center - Business Expansion Department.
South Georgia Technical College
900 South GA Tech Parkway
Americus, GA 31709
Open: Monday-Wednesday
Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Closes: Wednesday, May 2 at the close of business

More information about the SBA's Disaster Loan Programs is available here: http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance

Overturned vehicle at Sumter Regional Hospital,
ravaged by tornado's winds.
Click on image for larger view. (Dave Bender)

Tornado cleanup causes massive Atlanta traffic problems

Commuters heading into Atlanta today are dealing with massive traffic backups as the city cleans-up from tornado damage over the weekend.

Traffic on at least two of the major interstates heading into downtown Atlanta was backing-up for several miles late this morning. Numerous street closures and dozens of traffic light outages across the city are causing drivers to look for alternate routes, or be stuck in long backups.

The city is in cleanup and repair mode following a destructive tornado that cut through Friday night. The twister was the first in recorded history to slice through Atlanta’s downtown. It struck a tourism district around the Centennial Olympic Park, and hit nearby neighborhoods in its 6-mile path.

Damage includes blown-out windows on high-rises, buildings with walls torn away, and a loft-residence complex with a completely collapsed roof. The city’s main convention center took significant damage.

Officials say early damage estimates in the city total at least 150-million dollars.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado and the aftermath.

Severe storms leave two dead

Blown out windows can be seen behind the rubble of a heavily damaged building in downtown Atlanta, caused by a tornado which struck the area late Friday night. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)

At least two people have died in Polk and Floyd counties from powerful storms near the state border with Alabama. The latest severe weather comes after a Tornado with winds of up to 130 miles per hour trashed downtown Atlanta last night. At least 27 people were hurt.

Governor Sonny Perdue and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin declared a state of emergency in several areas in Atlanta.

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine estimated damage from Friday night's storm at $150 million to $200 million, most of it at the Georgia World Congress Center, a state convention facility near the CNN Center and the Georgia Dome.

People walk away from the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta Saturday morning. The hotel was damaged from a tornado which struck the area late Friday night. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the storm damage in downtown Atlanta Friday evening.

Click here for tornado and severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service for the Atlanta area and statewide.

(The Associated Press)

Macon tornado clean up continues

Scenes of the tornado cleanup in Macon: a wood chipper grinds through debris, as a backhoe digs through hills of fallen trees nearby. (Josephine Bennet)

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert is urging residents to be patient. Nearly two months after an F-2 tornado crisscrossed its way through the city the cleanup continues.

Original predictions by the Federal Emergency Management Agency underestimated the amount of debris left by the storm. Reichert says 250 truckloads a day are being brought to a large dump site located near a paper mill operated by Graphic Packaging. The paper mill is recycling some of the debris. FEMA regulations say all trucks must be weighed and counted.

"We've got thousands of dump truck loads to gather up and bring here. Thousands of them. Each load has to be monitored to be sure that it is filled and appropriately packed because FEMA regulations require that the loads be monitored."

The mayor says it will be up to 60 days before they are finished. He says some of the wood waste is being turned into mulch. That mulch will eventually be available free of charge to residents.

Original estimates put the cost of debris removal at 1.2 million dollars. That figure is expected to rise.

Americus, Albany hospitals to merge operations

Local residents examine overturned vehicle in SRH parking lot on March 2, 2007, the morning after the tornado struck. (file/Dave Bender)

Officials at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus have decided to lease operations to Albany's Phoebe Putney Health System.

Sumter Regional was destroyed by a tornado on March 1, 2007.

Wrecking crews demolishing Sumter Regional Hospital earlier this year. The facility was severely damaged by a twister that tore through Americus on March 1, 2007. (file/Dave Bender)

Patients have been using temporary facilities nearby, and relying on other area hospitals for more comprehensive medical services since then.

Hospital officials say Phoebe Putney will add at least $25 million dollars to rebuild SRH, and will provide core primary and emergency services, according to a report in the Albany Herald newspaper.

Both hospitals are expected to finalize the agreement by the New Year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado, and it's effect on SRH and Americus.

Severe Weather Sweeps Georgia

Georgia emergency officials this morning say there is damage in several areas of the state from severe weather that rolled through late yesterday afternoon through the evening. From north, to central, east-central, west, and extreme southwest Georgia--reports of tornado touchdowns and damage.

Buzz Weiss with GEMA gave GPB an update as of 6am:
-Hancock County in east-central Georgia: reports of one fatality and a handful of injuries with damage in the area.
- Jasper County in central Georgia: at least 100 structures damaged.
- Coweta County in west Georgia: possible tornado touchdowns
- Grady and Thomas counties in SW-Ga.: possible tornado hits.
- Wilkes County in east Georgia: damage reported.

Weiss says GEMA this morning is working with local emergency officials to offer assistance needed--everything from debris removal and any needs for shelter set-up.

Scientists: City, Drought Fueled Atlanta's Freak Tornado

The freak tornado that damaged downtown Atlanta last year might have been caused in part by the city itself. New research funded by NASA shows that, while the twister was spawned by a larger weather system, it also might have been made stronger by a "heat island" that surrounds Atlanta.

University of Georgia geography professor Marshall Shepherd was part of the study and says, the research could help to improve weather forecasts. "Land cover and soil moisture affect weather processes and right now many of our weather forecasting models today don't represent urban landcover or soil moisture as well as they should," Dr. Shepherd says.

The study also says, Georgia's on-going drought could have been a factor by creating what amounted to a "sea breeze" between wet and dry areas. The downtown Atlanta tornado struck almost exactly a year ago today, causing only minor injuries, but millions of dollars damage.

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Suspected tornado victim identified

A man found dead in the rubble of a tornado-damaged building has been identified as 45-year-old Gregory Lee. Lee's body was found Saturday by workers clearing debris from a collapsed building. However experts say the cause of death has not been determined, which means it is still unknown if Lee is the first victim of the tornado that struck downtown March 14th.

Tornado Confirmed For Damage In Cherokee County

The severe storms of Sunday night for parts of the state did result in at least one confirmed tornado. The National Weather Service says a twister did touch down for a few seconds in a Cherokee County neighborhood. That’s all it took for more than 100 homes to sustain some level of damage, and 12 to be completely destroyed. Officials say the tornado was a half-mile wide and left a destructive path over a mile long. Reported twisters in north Georgia’s Cobb County, and west Georgia’s Muscogee County have not been confirmed.

Atlanta: The clean-up and the accounting

Two cars are partially buried under the rubble of a twister-hit building. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Georgia officials say cleaning up the debris from the streets of downtown Atlanta won't take as long as repairing the financial damage caused by the tornado that ripped through the city's core.
Scrap metal dealer Jessie Callaway cautiously picks his way through the rubble of a brick building ripped apart by the tornado, March 16, 2008. Centennial Park area. (Dave Bender)

Scrap metal dealer, Jessie Callaway was born and grew up in the neighborhood. He's rummaging through a pile of metal shards in an old building. The twister ripped off two of the corner building's brick walls:

“Yeah, I clean up more ways than one. I'm fixin' to clean that up right now (laughs). It was devastating out here -- I just couldn't believe it -- I ain't never seen nothin' like this before in the state of Georgia.”

Several landmarks, including the Georgia World Congress Center, were in the path of the storm, which danced along the Atlanta skyline for about 20 minutes on Friday night. The city's main convention center and two major hotels find themselves hobbled as the convention season begins.

CNN Center and the Omni Hotel. TV trucks and cranes were a common sight in downtown Atlanta on Sunday morning. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender).

With the closing this weekend of the complex which includes the huge convention center, the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, the facility lost the Atlanta Home Show, a dental convention and much of the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament.

Workmen at the Georgia World Congress Center sweep up shards of glass, as glazier crews behind them replace windows shattered in the storm. March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Dan Graveline, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said today on a walking tour with reporters and that it's still too early to add up the damage. Graveline says he hopes repairs will begin soon, starting with the areas that can be fixed most quickly. Graveline says the damage that can't be seen at a glance is also a concern.

Atlanta resident Terry Lewis, who came downtown to survey the mechanized clean-up wearing a hard-hat, compared it to the havoc in her East Atlanta Village neighborhood, where a number of families suffered significant damage to their homes and vehicles:

“This is stunning ... [but] it was actually kind of more heart-wrenching to see what was happening with my neighborhood and my neighbors; the amount of home damage and car damage... yeah – there's not a lot of people here, so you're not seeing the human toll you're seeing in the neighborhood.”

Governor Sonny Perdue, who also was at the news conference, expressed relief and gratitude for the minimal loss of life and quick response of emergency workers.


A sign company crew re-welds a fallen billboard behind a car, its roof collapsed from falling debris. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Hotel officials say they are most concerned about getting the Georgia World Congress Center back into shape as a conference venue. They say their own facilities had minor damage in comparison.


The Westin Hotel is framed by a sign company's stinger truck cranes. Many of the hotel's windows were blown out by the winds. Centennial Olympic Park area, March 16, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Daniel Shmittou, whose renovation firm was called in to save a tornado-damaged structure on Saturday, has one word for the results:

“Devastating. I've been here since '79, and I've never seen anything like it. It's truly a sad day.”

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who toured the area Saturday estimates the damages at upwards of 200 million dollars.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the storm and its aftermath.

(With The Associated Press)

Nat'l Weather Svce seeks tornado evidence

Weather experts will look for evidence in a south Georgia town to determine if storm damage was caused by a tornado. A storm system Monday brought another round of severe weather to Fitzgerald where a possible twister damaged one building and toppled several irrigation systems east of the town. No injuries were reported. A storm survey will be conducted Tuesday in Ben Hill County byNational Weather Service meteorologists in Tallahassee, Fla.

(Associated Press)

$28M for tornado recovery

Georgia will have access to $28-million state and federal relief funds to help recover from March tornadoes. Today Governor Sonny Perdue announced the money for eligible people and communities in Sumter and surrounding counties in southeast Georgia. 15 counties hit by tornadoes March 1st received a Presidential Disaster Declaration. One tornado destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus. Nine people died in the storms.

Click here for a breakdown of where the aid is going, and more GPB coverage of the twisters that swept through southwest Georgia.

Americus hospital rises from rubble

Construction workers at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, ravaged by a twister on March 1st, have erected the first of a series of COGIM temporary facilities.

COGIM unit. (Photo courtesy of The Americus Times-Recorder)

The 70,000-sq. ft. facility will hold 76-beds, and be fully functional, hospital officials say.

Federal and state organizations, donors and local volunteer groups been active in caring for SRH patients in the interim, as the construction continues.

SRH the day after the tornado struck. (Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado and the aftermath.