A Tornado Visits Fort Oglethorpe

It was about 1:00 AM last Monday morning that we first heard the wind beginning to kick up. One-half hour later we knew it was serious. If we'd had a basement we would have gone there but lacking one we stayed in the east bedroom; the wind coming from the west. At 2:00 AM the wind driven rain eliminated all outside viability, except for the occasional shadows of our oak and pine tree waving violently. It was a helpless feeling, knowing that if either of those trees came down the house was probably gone. But fate decreed otherwise, and the morning light revealed scattered lawn furniture, some smaller sized tree limbs down, and our favorite lawn ornament broken. Fate was not as kind to the Fort Oglethorpe city park and walking trail, located 1.7 miles from our house.

The park is a fairly narrow but lengthy piece of land, essentially bordered on the north by Battlefield Parkway which is the city's main street, and Black Branch Creek on the south. The park contains a modern playground and a beautiful, peaceful paved walking trail. To walk the trail both ways is a trip of one and one-half miles, with plenty of benches among the trees and along side the creek to relax and enjoy nature.

Looking at the devastation caused by the tornado it almost seems as if the tornado deliberately followed the walking trail. Pictures can't convey the amount of destruction, nor could simply reciting the number of trees down or the houses on the other side of the creek that had been damaged or destroyed.

This house is probably going to take a little longer to sell than the owner anticipated.

Some businesses like the one below were not immune. We're not sure what this was but it occupied a large plot of land between the park and the main street.

The tornado apparently jumped from Fort Oglethorpe to the Chattanooga suburb of East Brainerd where it did extensive damage. A figure of 170 million is being reported. Even today many residents are still without power, and some roads are closed as city crews work on restoring power and cleaning up fallen trees. 

With all of the basic infrastructure issues to deal with, it will be awhile before cleanup will begin at 'our' park. Hopefully before too long we'll be able to once again sit on a bench and watch the herons hunting fish in the creek.