path of destruction
Last week it was the car accident that left us a little shaken. This week … the weather has made the car accident look almost trivial.
Yesterday was the day of disaster, weather-wise. Starting at 8am and lasting all the way until midnight, we were one of the areas hard hit by the rolling wave of bad weather that hit the Southeast. Nearly every hour we rode through thunderstorms, high winds, hail, torrential rain and even several tornados – it didn’t seem to want to stop. I’d never experienced anything as continuous and non-stop, weather-wise.
yesterday, behind our house ... when the afternoon sky turns dark as night, it's not a good thing
At our house, we can once again count our blessings, as we only have one large tree down and a few missing roof shingles. Many of our nearby neighbors were not so lucky. As of this morning, there were at least 9 deaths in our county alone, and 15 in Tennessee. Surrounding areas, including north Georgia suffered even more catastrophic damage to homes and buildings.
sadly, I was told that someone had been inside this home (Mt. Zion Rd.)
I took a ride today several roads close to home, and was shocked at the destruction I saw. People are outside milling around, almost shell-shocked. The southern end of our road was still closed as crews worked to clear trees and power lines. Many are still without power; fortunately ours returned to us late last night.
just down the road ...
neighbors ... feeling shell-shocked
buried in debris
Schools have been cancelled until Monday. Prom has been postponed until … ? There is so much “cleaning up” to do almost everywhere … I finally stopped taking pictures of huge downed trees, because there were just too many of them.
One of the strangest experiences while riding around was finding random pieces of peoples’ lives strewn along the road – in places far removed from where the actual destruction took place. A piece of someones kitchen countertop lying on the edge of the road, clothing and carpeting flung against a farm fence. Pieces of metal roofs and siding hanging from utility lines – with no idea where they came from.
pieces of a household stuck on a fence
carpeting on fenceline and downed trees
I’ve inserted a slide show of some of the scenes from yesterday’s sky, to the nearby damage I saw today around our immediate area. I haven’t even ventured into town, or into other areas of the county. Hoping my local friends are all safe, and my prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones and suffered devastating damage. Godspeed.
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shebicycles 
wow
Glad you and yours are okay. I often read your blog and ENJOY your pics because they give me a taste of my summer vacations spent in North GA. My sister lives in MacCaysville, GA (I’m in Taiwan) and she told me of the destruction in Cleveland so I quickly went to your blog . Take good care.
I am so glad you and your family are fine – but oh, so sad to see the destruction and to hear about the deaths in your area. Be safe, my friend, and consider yourself hugged as you deal with the disaster.
Gosh, the scope of this is really amazing. I have a friend in Birmingham who was really scared yesterday when the storm hit there. She’s ok, but there is a lot of devastation.
Glad you are all ok, we were worried about you out that way. Thanks for the photos, we’ve tried to stay home and out of the way of the workers. It’s good to see what we’ve been hearing about, it’s hard to fathom. The stuff caught in the fence really got me.
I see you have a generator, but call if you need anything, we have power!
That is good photojournalism. The shot of the trailer pad and remaining deck is very powerful, with the inanimate guardian. And the barbed wire fences catching everything from clothing to metal roofing gives pause.
Very sorry this happened to your home. I imagine it will change your outlook and landscape for some time.
I’m sorry to hear about all of this Cassi. All the best to you and your neighbors as you re-build and become stronger.
Darryl
I”m very glad to hear that you and your family are fine, but so sad to see all the photos and think of how this has affected so many people. While this storm ravaged every side of us, we somehow escaped here in Atlanta this time. I was up half the night, sure it was going to hit at any minute, and was so thankful when we avoided it. Alabama, where most of my family lives, was hit hard as well – thankfully they are all fine, but there are scary stories from people I know who narrowly escaped. One person’s mother managed to walk out of her house unharmed, even though it was torn apart and moved several yards from its foundation! I haven’t heard from another friend who lives in Pleasant Grove which was practically destroyed – I’m hoping they are OK. It’s really just unbelievable – I’ve always lived in the South, so everyone expects tornadoes (can remember going to storm cellars many times growing up!), but it’s hard to imagine a storm of this magnitude. I hope this was the last of the spring storms and all those affected can try to get their lives back together!
As others have stated, I’m glad that your family has survived this relatively unscathed, but I can certainly feel for your neighbors who weren’t as fortunate to escape the devastation. I’m keeping good thoughts for all and hope that the clean up and restoration will be quick and smooth for everyone involved.
We had a similar experience about 18 years ago. The little bits of people’s lives that you find in random locations is unbelievable. We picked up about a pickup load of splintered roofing and shingles from our yard, but the most memorable things we encountered was a child’s baby doll hanging in our tree branch and deep in the woods across the way, we found a mattress about 40 feet up in a tree.
Like you, we were lucky…the twister passed about 500 feet to the east of us, but that’s about as close as I ever want to be to one of those things.
Glad to hear you’re OK.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by the weather in the South. It must have been terribly frightening. I have enjoyed your blog because I’m a country girl at heart living in the city. Secretly I have wished I could ride my bike out in the beautiful country you enjoy there where you live. Mother Nature has her ways of restoring the beauty to the earth, but she leaves it to us humans to help each other heal and restore ourselves. I pray your community finds that restoration quickly.
Wow. Just saw this. So glad you’re ok. Hope you and the neighbors can recover soon.