No one disputes the presence of tornadoes in the tri-county area Friday night. Crisp, Dooly and Wilcox were hit.
A mobile home on Owensboro Rd. near Rochelle was demolished, Rochelle Assistant Police Chief Robert Greene said. The residents had left the dwelling 20 minutes before the storm hit, Greene added.
At least one other home was damaged, and there were some brief power outages.
Greene said he saw the funnel cloud before it touched the ground and as it touched down. He and another officer actually followed it for a while.
“As we turned onto Hwy. 233, we started to see debris in the road. When we turned onto Owensboro Rd., we saw the demolished trailer.”
Greene said most of the damage in Wilcox County was confined to an area between Hwys. 112 and 233.
Homes in both Crisp and Dooly Counties sustained damage as shingles were ripped from the roofs or trees fell on them. Numerous trees in both counties either were uprooted or snapped off.
Scenic Route in the Lake Blackshear area and the Arabi-Williford Rd. area seemed to have been hit the hardest in Crisp County. Trees are down on Coney, Pateville and Bird’s Mill Rds.
Crisp Sheriff Donnie Haralson also reported damage on Floyd Rd. and along I-75.
Crisp Sheriff Donnie Haralson said the weather sirens were sounded twice, and Code Red calls were activated two times.
Anyone who is signed up to receive Code Red calls during emergency events should have gotten those.
In Dooly County, homes were damaged on Lambstown, Parham and Shiloh Rds, most of them by falling trees.
“The good news is, no one was injured and no homes were totally destroyed,” EMA Director Kenny Calhoun said.
EMA Director Kenny Calhoun said the warning for Dooly County started about 10:45 p.m.
The National Weather reported that a tornado was headed toward Vienna. “What was alarming about the warning,” he said, “was that the storm was described as potentially life-threatening.
“They don’t say that often,” he indicated.
Calhoun said the sirens were activated, and county emergency responders were put on standby.
“Based on the radar,” Calhoun added, “we dodged a very dangerous bullet. If it had touched the ground in Vienna, we would have had another 1999.”
It was 10 years ago April 15 that an F-4 tornado plowed through several city streets there and destroyed many homes.
Power had been restored by Saturday afternoon in all areas of the tri-county that were affected.
Local news
Storms roar through area
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