The National Weather Service says it has confirmed four tornadoes from the severe storms that swept across Georgia on Good Friday.

The confirmed tornadoes included EF1s in Crisp, Pickens and Chattahoochee counties and also an ef0 in Chattahoochee. The Weather Service said it still had teams checking on possible tornadoes in Chatooga, Dooley, Gordon, Hancock and Wilcox counties.

There were no reports of deaths in Georgia.

Ken Davis of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said Saturday that a nursing home in Richmond County had its roof destroyed, with patients being moved to hospitals in the area. He said there were no reports of injuries.

He said GEMA also had reports of homes destroyed or damaged in Burke, Putnam, Terrell, Crisp, Columbia, Wilcox and Hancock counties. Davis said there were some injuries, but no deaths reported.

In Cobb, Ga., a small community on the Flint River at the Sumter-Crisp county line, experienced its third brush with danger and tragedy in a little over three weeks. Heavy rain three weeks ago caused flooding that forced some people to evacuate. Last week, 5-year-old Kenneth Phillips Jr., of Byron, visiting family, went missing and was discovered hours later — a victim of drowning in the river.

Friday night’s storm slammed the area around 11:30 to 11:45, caused a power outage, as well as trees to be uprooted, roofs to cave in, and other damage. Residents were reminded of the 2007 tornado that devastated nearby Americus.

Sustaining almost a total loss was the home of former Crisp County Commissioner, Ferrell Henry, and his wife, Arleeta. The Henrys live in Cordele but spent the weekends at their Cobb house.

“You know, we’re blessed,” Ferrell Henry said. “Usually, we’re out here on the weekends, and when this happened, I would have been sitting in that chair.”

He pointed to a recliner in the middle of the living room, directly underneath a hole in the ceiling where a tree had fallen through.

Pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that his wife had completed were strewn through the area, knick knacks were tossed about, and in the kitchen, roofing covered the whole room.

Henry shook his head, “You know. In the Flood of ’94, this house was covered with water, up to here.” He put his hand up to his nose to indicate the level of the water.

Wife Arleeta worked nearby with friends, neighbors and others gathering up personal items to salvage. “We just remodeled the house in 1996,” Ferrell Henry’s eyes were bright and wide. A tree, a beautiful pine, lay smack in the middle of a bedroom.

A neighbor and contractor, Larry Walker, who assisted with the house in 1996, said, “Yeah, and we might be thinking about relocation.”

Arleeta Henry, though small in stature, stood tall among the debris, and said, “We are so thankful for the people who came out to check the area, and help out.”

Her husband nodded, “Oh yes. The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, other emergency agencies, the Red Cross, and even some officials from Crisp County, and of course, all of our friends and neighbors. They were out here as early as 5 o’clock this morning and before that.”

Henry had been at his residence in Cordele when he received the call from a neighbor, “We got the call and weren’t able to get here until early morning.”

Looking around, putting on his work gloves, Henry said, “We’re so thankful that no one was hurt.”

Henry’s next door neighbors in the Flint River community, Lee and Charlyne Hall, heard the tornado when it hit.

Lee Hall said, “People talk about that train noise, well, I heard it. It was loud. We got in our closet.”

The Halls’ vehicles were damaged as trees had fallen on them.

Henry pointed at a power line down in front of his drive, where his house, now partially, stands.

“The power is dead. Right now, we’re safe, though I still would be cautious around the lines. When they do get it back on, I don’t know what is going to happen.”

Hall indicated, “The power was hooked up somewhere over there and it got knocked out.”

A neighbor a few doors up the street from Hall sustained major damage as well as Hall said, “Her boat house got blown over.”

Up the road a piece on Hwy. 280, The Plant Place, a nursery shopped by many in Crisp and Sumter counties, is no longer standing. Though it looks like a total loss, one employee said, “We lost some trees, and buildings, but we were able to salvage a few items. Right now, with the power being out, our main problem is how we’re going to water them.”

Leisa Cross, executive director of the Middle Flint Chapter of the American Red Cross, said, as of 3 p.m., that her agency had completed damage assessments for the Cobb area in eastern Sumter County, with 45 homes damaged, seven destroyed, seven with major damage, 15 with minor damage and 16 homes affected in some way such as shingles off, etc. She said the Red Cross had sheltered three families.

Ferrell Henry, looked at what used to be the dining room window of his home, and at the figures of friends, neighbors and his wife searching through the debris, and smiled.

“You know, houses can be rebuilt.”



(This report was compiled from stories by The Associated Press and by Becky Holland of The Americus Times-Recorder, a CNHI newspaper.