Their high school is in shambles. Classes and final exams are on hold. Their cellphone text screens buzz with questions — “Are you okay?” — and rumors that two classmates died in the storm.
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s terrifying tornado twist through North Georgia, Ringgold High School sophomores Shelby Nichols and Ally Purdin, both 15, passed a cellphone back and forth and talked about nature’s wrath.
Shelby: I was at my friend Tanner’s house. We were sitting in a bedroom watching his little brother play a game, a video game, and his mom suddenly came in and said, “Get over next to the wall, behind the bed, and pull the mattress over your heads. There’s a tornado coming.”
I kind of stood there and looked out the window for a second, but then she started pushing me until I got over behind the bed. And then she sat in front of me and Tanner and pulled the mattress over our heads and said “Here it comes.”
It sounded like a dinosaur, like a roaring dinosaur, like a T-Rex. I was terrified because I didn’t know what was going to happen after that, whether I was going to die, if I was going to make it out. We were probably behind the bed for five or six minutes. The actual tornado part only lasted for about 30 seconds to a minute. I mean it came and was gone in no time. And then Tanner’s dad came in and said stay behind the bed for just a few more minutes, just in case another one comes. So after about five minutes, we walked outside and we saw what had happened.
Trees were falling, power lines were down, still alive and sparking. And cars were gone and neighbors were crying and houses were torn apart and sheds were gone and everything. The art building at the high school is half-collapsed, the front doors are gone, the glass is busted, the offices are strewn everywhere, the tile is pulled up, the windows for the gym and part of the wall is messed up. There are lights hanging from the ceiling. The stairs on the outside of the school are torn up. The tennis courts are flattened and gone. ... There are band trailers thrown everywhere.
Ally: When I heard about the art building I was devastated because that is my favorite place to go in the whole high school. McDonald’s is gone too, which is like our big hangout.
Shelby: There are so many stories going around about school that we don’t know what to believe. We have to get back to school at some point because we have to take our End-of-Course tests, but we don’t know when that will be.
Ally: Some are saying school will take place in a theater or somewhere else. I think they should just cut us off and start summer now.
Shelby: We’ve heard that two students have died. [This has not been confirmed.]
Ally: We heard one was trapped in a car.
Shelby: We’re all shellshocked about our classmates. We never would have thought that a tornado would come through and kill people that we know. And, you know, people are in denial and saying it’s not true. They’re saying “they’re just missing, there are no bodies.” Some people are just accepting it and realizing they’re probably not going to come back.
About the Author
