COLQUITT COUNTY — Friday the 13th struck with a lot of force, as residents of Colquitt County saw homes and businesses ravaged by tornadoes. One or more tornadoes touched down around Crosland and Norman Park, but there did not appear to be any loss of human life or serious injuries as of early Thursday evening.

I.F. “Dutch” Hall, who lives in a mobile home on Livingston Bridge Road in Crosland, said he went to the door of his home about 4:30 p.m. Thursday when he heard a tornado coming near. He thought it was coming down the road but it came up from behind his residence, tearing the roof off and throwing it into his front yard.

The tornado made an “awful noise” like a freight train as it approached, Hall said, and the house fell in as he closed the door. A part of the roof hit him in the right arm, causing minor cuts, but he did not have any other injuries.

In order to get out of his house, Hall said he had to break out a window and climb out into the carport. Bales of hay that had been lined up were also blown around the yard and a fence around the yard was blown over.

Hall said he will be staying with his son Roger.

In Norman Park, the tornado damaged chicken coups owned by International Poultry Breeders. Managing director Steve Smith said two of the four chicken coups, which house about 11,000 chickens each, will be condemned because of damage.

Smith said he was driving up to the chicken coups about 4:15 p.m. Thursday when he saw a funnel cloud forming. He contacted two employees, who took pictures of the funnel cloud using their camera phones before fleeing to safety.

The tornado tore aluminum siding off the roofs and caused parts of the roof to collapse on top of some chickens, Smith said. He estimated about 5,000 chickens were killed because of the storm, and another 15,000 chickens will be condemned because of losing the two coups.

Ly Tran, an employee at International Poultry Breeders, said he had come in to work about 4 p.m. and was in the shower in a nearby mobile home when the tornado came through. He was only about two feet away from the funnel cloud at one point, he said, and the rear of the home suffered significant damage.

The home started shaking as the tornado approached, and Tran said he heard a “terrible sound” as it came closer. He saw debris come flying by and go into the road as it passed him, and he said he was thankful he escaped without injury.

Smith said he lost about 2 percent of his business because of the tornado, but he vowed to come back from it.

“We will be built back and come back stronger and better,” he said.

Mary Anne Shiver, who owns a mobile home across Perry Watts Road from the chicken coups, said she came back to Norman Park from Quitman after hearing a tornado had come through. She knew there would be some damage, but she did not expect to see debris from her house in the yard and trees knocked over, one coming through a bedroom of her residence.

Damage from the tornado was also reported along J.R. Suber Road near Norman Park, but the extent of the damage was not known as of press time. There were also reports of trees being knocked down by the tornado, including a tree blocking both lanes of traffic on Highway 33 near Okapilco School about 4:10 p.m. Thursday.