The recent devastation in the deep South from the tornado outbreak has created stories.The story began several days before. Weather evangelists shared that there was a huge potential for serious weather that would come across the South. I remember seeing a prediction of about two hours of severe weather coming across my area and that day shared this with my night shift leaders in Operations since this would have us shelter our associates for a long period of time.
But with Twitter and what was being seen it was even more serious. That was several days before.
The Day before the warnings were louder.
Then the morning came and the serious storms were supposed to hit North Georgia around 7pm that night. I got to work early that morning and warned associates by e-mail of the serverity and reminded them of being ready to Shelter in Place if things changed.
Things changed.
Weather around 8am changed, watching Twitter, storms were stirring. Talking with Security and my Captain was concerned. She said she would stay in touch. The Weather Radio goes off about 8:25am from Peachtree City for a Tornado Warning for Chickamauga where my wife teaches and where our kids are. I call her and tell her, she hung up and got moving at the school.
Things changed quickly.
Around 8:45am My Captain called me and said we have a tornado warning and I am sounding the alarm to Shelter....I replied, "Headed that way!" { This is where training takes in and leaders in Operations and our Emergency Readiness Team in the Office come into play}
We got everyone sheltered and as went in the area I asked our Customer Service Manager to pull up the radar. We looked ok. Looked south. But Chattanooga? I could actually see the hook on the radar that was up there. Prayed for everyone in a hallway and kept moving thru the building to make sure everyone was safe in place. Walked in our biggest shelter area, people calm, trying to connect to family, following our drill protocol.
This was unexpected even the Weather Evangelists missed it. It told me that what they said was true but I had a feeling it was going to be worse than what we thought.
The Tornado in our county was toward Rome, Ga and did some significant damage. Others had hit in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The one headed for Chickamauga had done lots of damage in Dade County.
Things kept changing.
The day and ride home included hearing that the worse was to come on the radio. Schools had been released earlier {one of the best moves of the day}
My wife was home when I got there and had the kids sheltered in place at home.
We watched television for updates on NewsChannelNine with David Glenn and watch James Spann on U-stream. James was big as we watched the tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Phil Campbell, Hackleburg, Pratt City, Cullman, Birmingham (watched it over the internet go thru the city) and then head up I-59 over Lake Weiss and right towards Rome, Georgia.
By the way, there are four more cells that come thru our area. One on the south end of Catoosa and east side of Walker looked bad on the Weather Channel radar, a friend calls from the area. He has lost power, I said bad weather is on you, but it going north of you and it looks bad. All the cells that came thru our area were just severe storms no tornadoes. We were blessed.
That one was the one that laid down on one side of I-75 in Ringgold, Georgia and took out a whole exit, damage to the town, schools, and in effect shut Ringgold down for a week.
My friend in Ringgold called me back, he was attempting to get medication and he said that Ringgold on the I-75 exit is gone! Everything got hit, I reminded him to get home ASAP as there were some other cells coming from Huntsville and would be there in awhile. I would see what he was talking about the next morning as I went to work.
Listening to the Sheriff's office over the internet in Catoosa County proved to be unsettling, officers were finding bodies outside of Ringgold on roads such as Friendhip Road which heads up to Tennessee. 5 was the count at midnight.....if you followed this you know back towards Alabama this was nothing.
Back at our plant, I had been in touch with Security during this whole time because there was a tornado headed towards Rome ---remember the one that came into Tuscaloosa? Well, it is now going to go between Rome and Cartersville. I tell Security it probably won't changed and head north but you will be getting a tornado warning soon so get ready.
We sheltered our associates then and then one more time that night.
There are so many stories that started that day....Wednesday, April 27th. I am thankful that our Weather Evangelists sounded the alarm like they did earlier. I am still amazed at how many people didn't pay attention to this. I think that has changed for this area of the South. I think this generation like the ones did with the storms of the 70s that you must respect the weather and prepare for the worst.
May God Bless you and your family. Our prayers are with those rebuilding homes, businesses and cities....May God comfort you during this time and give you strength.
Here is a link to the devastation by our local paper the Chattanooga Times Free Press:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/may/07/updated-overall-look-chattanooga-area-storm-covera/?breakingnews
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