Clean Up Continues

In the aftermath of the Jan. 12th tornado, clean up continues throughout the region. One video narrator stated he'd never seen this much destruction, even after hurricanes in FL. Some homes got power back only a few days ago, a few are still without power, and trees and brush still fill residential yards and line the sides of roads after having been cleared from the middle of the road.

Griffin, and Spalding County, is one of seven counties that have been declared Federal Disaster areas. Locally there is estimated to be in excess of 17 million dollars in damage across the city and county. That number may grow.

Between the city of Griffin and Spalding County, roughly 2100 homes are damaged with an additional 100 or more completely destroyed. Those numbers may also grow. And that's not counting the damage to businesses and loss of revenue while they were closed due to damage or power outages.

Crews work to remove debris from roadsides

More than 150 line crew members are still out working on restoring power to areas still affected. This is a pole to pole response in some areas before power can be fully restored to homes, depending on what grid they're on. One house may have power and the one next to it may not. Because of the way power grids are laid out, that isn't unusual.

For those who know me, they know that I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, sometimes incorrectly referred to as Mormon. (Someday I may explain why the term Mormon is incorrect, but that's a discussion for another day.) Anyway, members of my church organized volunteer relief efforts and we had over 300 members show up on 2 different Saturdays. There's another volunteer effort scheduled for this coming Saturday and an even larger number is expected to turn out. It's wonderful to be part of a religion that donates so much of their time to help not only members, but the community at large. As an interesting side note, no churches of any denomination received any significant damage. Feel free to read anything into that you wish, I just thought it was interesting.

Yard cleanup before and after

Here's a funny story - after a previous disaster (not sure what it was) in Chattanooga, TN, a member of the church stepped up to organize local relief efforts which had volunteers from all over the area, including members and non-member community volunteers. He was splitting the workers into smaller groups and making sure each group had people with chain saws, trucks, relief supplies, making sure each group had people who knew the area, etc. A few days later someone from FEMA showed up to take over the organization of the volunteers. Everyone said "We don't need FEMA, we've got a Mormon!"

On the brighter side, Spring is just beginning to show her colors here. Grass is greening up and spring bulbs are just starting to bloom. Spring is definitely in the air!

Tornado!!!

An F3 or 4 (depending on which weather station you listen to) tornado plowed a wide path of destruction through our area Thursday afternoon. We were protected from the brunt of the wind by the tall pines around us. I was watching them bend in the wind, however, and praying they didn't topple over on us. It was an intense storm with the more central part of Griffin taking the most damage. Some of the thunder claps were pretty close, others further away, but they blended together in a constant rumble. Clean up will most likely take weeks with lines down, huge trees uprooted, homes and businesses damaged or completely destroyed. Power is still out in much of Griffin..

Fortunately, the storm hit in the late afternoon. Emergency alterts blared on everyone's cell phone, advising to seek shelter immediately. With the warning, people were able to take cover and find safe places to wait it out. If it had hit in the middle of the night when people were sleeping it might have been a lot worse. Only 1 death was reported in the Griffin area, but 7 were killed to the north in Atlanta. 

Just north of us a train was blown off its tracks. Students at a local high school had to spend the night there as roads were blocked with trees and power lines and travel was unsafe. Customers shopping at a Hobby Lobby were told over the store intercom to go to the center of the store immediately. The store front was destroyed.

When the storm was over, pleas were posted on the local FB page asking for anyone with a chainsaw to assist in certain areas. Residents of an apartment complex posted they were trapped inside their building because of trees that had fallen on the roof. Others asked for help as they needed. It was amazing to see the community come together to help one another, and to help clear the roads so people could get home.

Here are some photos of the storm, and the damage in the area. Even then, pictures can't begin to show the scope of the damage.

A beautiful sunset after the storm.

Merry Christmas - Finally

 I know, I know, it's almost 3 weeks past Christmas. 

We were able to travel about 4 hours away to visit Jim's youngest daughter on Christmas Sunday and spend several days there. Unfortunately, I came down with some kind of virus Christmas night. Woke up the next morning with a massive headache, nausea, stuffy head, sore throat, fever. We left for our return trip to GA Tuesday afternoon. Suffice it to say that virus had it's way with me over the next few weeks. I'm just now starting to feel normal. Hence the delay in updating this blog.

Just before Christmas we toured around the Griffin, GA area viewing the many Christmas light displays. Living in a small 26' travel trailer doesn't afford much room for holiday decorations so it was nice to see the public and private displays of lights and decorations.  One thing I notice about the South, they're not afraid to display symbols of their religion in public spaces. In other areas of the country religious displays are disappearing from public parks and spaces. These people still have manger scenes in their parks and municipal places. 

Had to take a video of this house. I wonder how long it took to set all this up - and break it down to store away!