ADAIRSVILLE — Large blue tarps hide gaping holes where there once were roofs and windows. Piles of debris, chunks of trees and large machinery line the streets.
It has been a week since a powerful tornado ripped through two northwest Georgia counties. Cleanup continued Wednesday afternoon, but the recovery could take years. The small town of Adairsville, however, is ready to move on, vowing that the biggest storm anyone can remember was not enough to push residents away.
“This is just home. I’ve been here all my life,” Jill Brown told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I just can’t believe this happened. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere.”
Nearly 100 structures were damaged in Adairsville and at least an additional 400 in neighboring Gordon County, officials said. Some homes and businesses, such as the Daeki plant in Adairsville, are complete losses, while others have varying degrees of damage.
“The city as a whole will see some normalcy soon,” Adairsville Police Chief Robert Jones said in his office Wednesday afternoon. “But the rebuilding could take a year or even two or three.”
Everyone around was affected by the storm, which killed one man and injured other people in a matter of minutes. And everyone has a story, recounting where they were and the nightmare of the past week. But the storm couldn’t damage the sense of community here.
Brown grew up on McKenzie Street in a house that somehow missed the path of the 160-mph EF3 tornado. Her uncle’s house next door, a brick ranch built in 1963, was not as lucky. Brown’s terminally ill uncle, Sammy Ellis, is bedridden and couldn’t get out of his home when three enormous trees uprooted, with one crushing the roof above his head. Water flowed out of light fixtures as Ellis waited to be rescued, Brown said.
While Brown now lives in Farmville, the past week is not one she ever wants to repeat, and the shock of it all still hasn’t worn off.
At her uncle’s house, where there was once a plush front yard with a small fountain and a row of bushes, there is now a muddy mess of trees and limbs. A hole the width of the driveway appeared to have swallowed up the bottom half of a tree.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Ellis’ house, which Brown said she’ll eventually inherit, can be repaired. And Brown said when it’s ready, she’ll return and move in.
But Ellis won’t. Brown swept the carport Wednesday afternoon after spending much of the day planning for her uncle’s eventual funeral.
Still, Brown and her neighbors have been encouraged by the number of people showing up to help, some of them strangers.
More than 1,200 volunteers have already helped with cleanup efforts in Adairsville, Jones said. “It’s phenomenal what the city and volunteers have been able to do.”
Jones said the response from law enforcement also has been overwhelming, with dozens from neighboring counties and beyond showing up ready to help. A dusk-to-dawn curfew, in place during the days immediately after the storm, may not have pleased everyone, but it kept other crimes at a minimum, Jones said. Storm victims were not going to be victims of looting and scams too, if he had anything to do with it.
Dealing with an emergency of this magnitude will serve as a learning experience, making the town more prepared in the future, Jones said.
“It’s changed the landscape physically, but also how we’re going to be prepared, if something like this were to ever happen again,” Jones said.
There are still many unknowns for the area, such as whether the large manufacturing plant will rebuild and employ residents again. There still is no electricity in some areas.
Brown can’t stop her eyes from tearing up while talking about the storm damage. But still, she counts her blessings.
“I’m thankful. I’m just so thankful that we’re alive,” Brown said. “These are good people up here. We’ll handle it.”
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