Elaine Jelks and her neighbors learned in the weekend storms what Katrina victims learned in 2005: First it's the wind; then it's the water; and then it's the people.

A tornado ripped off the roofs of their Azalea Gardens townhouse community near Vine City on Friday. Since then, waterlogged ceilings have been caving in, helped along by more downpours Saturday, making many of the apartments inhabitable.

Jessica McGowan/AJC (ENLARGE)

Thelma Hamilton, 75, looks at insulation covering her bedroom caused by a tree falling on her house during the Friday storm that hit Vine City.

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On Sunday, Jelks and her husband, James Doss Jr., returned from a Red Cross shelter to find their new home burglarized. Doss, 46, a heating and air-conditioning specialist, had his tools — his way of earning a living — stolen, Jelks said.

They had just moved into the complex days before the tornado hit.

"We haven't been here a week, and we have been tornadoized and robbed," said Jelks, 47. "That's just too much for one week."

Georgia Power crews and tree-cutting services were at work Sunday in Vine City, which got clobbered along with nearby downtown Atlanta by Friday's twister. Across from John F. Kennedy Middle School, uprooted oaks that once loomed over Griffin Street had crushed a line of historical homes.

One especially large oak leaned against a two-story house, its root ball popped out of the ground and all branches snapped. It looked like a jagged candelabra had squashed the front of the dwelling.

Norris Smith, who lived in the house with his brother, said the only warning they had of the tornado was hearing it approach. C-C, their Rottweiler, led the way to safety. None of them was hurt.

"The dog beat me to the basement," said Smith, 48. "Before I could get to the basement, the thing hit."

Thelma Hamilton, 75, said she had been in her house on Sciple Terrace for 37 years, only being forced out once before when a branch from a large oak pierced the roof.

She won't be bothered by that tree again. The force of the wind Friday split the oak from top to bottom. On its way down, though, it again crushed her roof and also destroyed her back deck. A tree-cutting crew was removing it Sunday, feeding pieces into a wood chipper.

"That's a big oak," said James Campbell, Hamilton's son-in-law.

She credited divine intervention with saving her from injury, or worse. On Friday, she was in bed when the tornado roared overhead.

"I just lay there, and I started to pray," she said. "And then something touched me on my face, and I got up, and I just got out the door when the ceiling fell."

He bed was covered in debris.

At Azalea Gardens, 67-year-old Jack Jordan said he was asleep when the tornado rolled through. Minutes later neighbors warned him to get out because his townhouse had lost its roof.

Jordan, who had to be at work at Philips Arena on Saturday morning, instead went back to bed. The next morning, as he walked downstairs, the ceiling above his bed collapsed, the weight of the water above it shredding it into thousands of pieces.

Jordan fled, feeling fortunate.

"Most of this stuff I can get again, but I can't get another me," he said.

Sunday, he was back home, protecting his property and contemplating his next step. Like many of his neighbors, he said he didn't have a lot of options in terms of housing. Townhouse management said it had complexes elsewhere and hoped to relocate the worst-hit residents while repairing their dwellings.

Alonzo Granville had driven over from Sylvan Hills to help a friend stranded in Azalea Gardens. An upbeat Granville noted the damage was material and it shouldn't dampen the spirit.

"God was good because nobody got hurt," said Granville, 55. "He let us stay here for a little longer."