GRIFFIN, Ga. – A soggy mid-week forecast won’t deter Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief chainsaw crews who are helping tornado victims remove trees from their homes and property.
The National Weather Service forecast a 90 percent chance of rain on Tuesday (Jan. 17) and a 70 percent chance on Thursday.
“It’s just rain, nothing severe,” said Jeff Carter, a crew leader who was among the first to arrive in the Griffin area where an EF-2 tornado did widespread damage. “It’ll just be another day for our folks.”
Survey teams from the National Weather Service have confirmed at least five tornadoes touched down in Georgia last week.
Disaster Relief crews, who do their work free of charge as a ministry to tornado victims, are seeing lots of homes damaged by huge trees toppled by the wind.
“Most were really old oak trees that just crushed homes when they fell,” Carter said.
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers have helped with storm cleanup across the country through the years. Carter said the people they help are always amazed by the volunteers work ethic, empathy and professionalism.
“They can’t believe that we work for free,” he said. “They are just amazed by that.”
The Disaster Relief volunteers began arriving within hours of the tornado outbreak blamed for at least two deaths in Georgia.
Dwain Carter, director of Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief, said some communities were devastated.
“It’s a major tornado zone,” he said.
Along with the chainsaw crews, Carter has deployed chaplains, damage assessors and volunteers to man a feeding station, showers and a mobile laundromat. They’re staging at Union Baptist Church in Griffin for a mobilization that could last up to a month.
Gov. Brian Kemp said the storm system caused damage across the state. Some of the worst damage, he said, was along the Alabama state line.
EF-1 tornadoes were confirmed in Cobb, Spaulding, Warren and McDuffie counties.
EF-2s were reported in Meriwether, Pike, Troup and Spaulding counties.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Roger Alford is editor of the Christian Index.)
