Ivan's Mighty Wrath Strikes Close to Home

[GabrielYoungFan]

Feeling Ivan's ire

By Lee Shearer

Athens Banner-Herald http://www.onlineathens.com

The violent remnants of Hurricane Ivan left a trail of damage through Northeast Georgia Thursday, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power and spawning tornados that killed a person in Franklin County and injured several in Madison County.

Authorities feared more fierce weather could follow, including wind damage and possible flooding, as more tendrils of the storm system swept through overnight and Friday morning.

At least four people were reported injured when an apparent tornado swept down on two Madison County neighborhoods at about 3 p.m., but none of the injuries were serious.

High winds also caused extensive damage in Athens, with numerous downed trees, blocked roads and power outages, according to the Georgia State Patrol. A downed power line closed Lexington Road east of Barnett Shoals Road for several hours Thursday night.

By about 9 p.m., some 14,000 homes were without power in the Athens area, according to Georgia Power Co. spokesman John Sell. About 40,000 homes throughout Northeast Georgia were without power, he said.

In Madison county, a mobile home in the Alberta Drive neighborhood near Colbert was picked up off its foundation and flung into a barn behind the house, destroying the barn. Five people were inside the trailer and barn but none was seriously injured, said Madison County 911 director David Camp.

http://onlineathens.com/stories/091704/new_20040917045.shtml

This link is to the complete article which also has several pictures of the extensive damage in Madison County. You will have to register to view the article but it's free.

This tornado hit close to home being maybe only 5-10 miles from my neighborhood. As you can imagine I am feeling quite fortunate and thankful that people weren't more seriously hurt. When the first tormado warning was issued I was in a bit of disbelief. My mother was rushing out the door to head to work and trying to miss the majority of the storm. The meteorologists were saying that the tornados that Ivan was producing formed quickly and ended within a couple of minutes. I knew they had predicted heavy rain and strong winds but the potential power of these short lived tornados was not registering. I prepared an interior walk in closet in case I had to get in and called my neighbors to warn them because we have a weather radio.

My mom called and told me my grandma was on the way from her house which was not far so I was very concerned as the wind was just blowing sheets of rain in all different directions. I called a friend who was at work and was closer to where they thought the tornado was forming. He was calm standing outside watching. He actually saw the funnel cloud form and head away from his building. My grandmother in the mean time made it and there was also a tornado that touched down in Athens so that prompted me to call Joeyz. It touched down maybe 4 miles from where he lives. He too was calm and had made it to work. I really didn't have time to get hysterical though as my phone was ringing off the hook. I did manage to find a small sense of humor in the situation as a telemarketer called during the tornado warning. I told them that now was not a good time as we were in the middle of a tornado warning.

But the rest was far from funny. I guess the point where I realized that it was real was when my aunt called and said the tornado touched down a mile from Colbert, and she wanted to make sure we were okay. Surprisingly, the whole time the warning was in effect I had not made it to the closet. I had no idea what to expect as I have never been in a tornado. My grandmother told me that it would get rough and then eerily calm. I called my friend back after the warning had expired and he was going to survey the damage with his video camera. I am waiting to see what he got on tape.

Our library has been damaged as well as our recreational dept and senior center.

[Redneck4sure]

I have family in east Alabama and west Georgia. I guess I need to give them a call.

Good luck and stay safe.

[Kooperman]

One thing I don't miss about living in the deep south is the threat of hurricanes. I lived about 100 miles from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and still recall the fear of Hurricane Camille in 1969. All through the summer there we had tornado watches and warnings on a regular basis too....it's a lot calmer in Kentucky, although we had a rash of tornados here this past spring. A couple of times we had to pack terrified grandkids into the bathtub during warning situations....

[Umma]

Scary weather you have over there... glad I live here not there :bigsmile:

[method77]

that's true Umma.

We only have to worry about those earthquakes

[Umma]

earthquakes??????

[method77]

we are used to them here. We get a billion small ones per week but sometimes we get those big, scary ones and stay in the car for a week

[joeyz]

we are used to them here. We get a billion small ones per week but sometimes we get those big, scary ones and stay in the car for a week

f that....

[method77]

the Mediterranean coastline is a very dangerous place when it comes to earthquakes. Greece and Turkey especially live with the fear but houses are built to stand those bastards