The cleanup and recovery in the aftermath of last week’s tornado continues, but most of the heavy work has been done. Volunteers, residents, city and county employees, firemen, utility workers and rescue personnel swarmed Commerce neighborhoods hit by the Aug. 26 tornado immediately after the storm.
They cleared fallen trees with chain saws and heavy equipment, installed tarpaulins over holes in roofs, replaced utility lines and hauled off debris — the aftermath of a tornado that stayed on the ground less than 10 seconds.
While the visual impact of the storm was extensive, there were no significant injuries and only one private residence was destroyed. In fact, property damage was relatively light, all things considered.
“It could have been a lot worse,” noted Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. last Wednesday morning.
Indeed, in countless yards and streets, huge trees fell parallel to mobile homes or away from houses where a few feet to one side or the other would have meant heavy property damage if not loss of life.
The storm, first sighted near Arcade, toppled trees and branches in yards on Jefferson Road, skipped over Hwy. 98 and North Broad Street, plowing through the tops of the down Forest Avenue, across Veterans Memorial Park and dipping down between Pine Street and West Cordes Place. It continued northeast across Cole Court and Cedar Drive and into Ashworth Mobile Home Park before pulling back into the clouds. In its wake it left two demolished buildings (a mobile home and a city utility building), scores of damaged residences and hundreds of downed trees - but no significant injuries and no fatalities.
The Cleanup
Trees in Ashworth Mobile Home Park, located off old U.S. 441, were decimated, but most of the big pine, poplar and oak trees toppled by the storm did little or no damage to the trailers.
Carolina Cable was already restoring service Wednesday morning, and 15 volunteers from Disaster Relief Georgia from as far away as Augusta wielded chainsaws to clear roads and yards in the mobile home park.
The state director of the 7,000-member organization resides in Commerce. Stuart Lang lives on Smallwood Drive. He was on the scene by 5:00 Tuesday afternoon.
“It just happened to hit our hometown,” he commented.
Commerce Public Works Director Rick Lewis had a crew at Ashworth Mobile Home Park too. He pointed out that Jackson County provided three dump trucks and a front-end loader to that effort.
“They really stepped up,” said Lewis of county crews.
Hardy felt the same way.
“Jackson County has been here full force,” the mayor said. “All of the fire departments have been here. The county manager was here last night, along with Steve Nichols and the EMS folks. They’ve really pitched in. We have two or three crews from the correctional institute with chain saws, backhoes and front-end loaders. All of the police departments from the surrounding areas were here to help set up roadblocks and control traffic. I can’t say enough.”
Those people were still on the scene Friday.
Commerce firemen nailed blue tarpaulins on a dozen residences Tuesday night to cover holes caused by wind or falling trees. They were back out Wednesday morning and worked until every hole was covered.
Paula Sears of the Jackson County tax assessor’s office assessed the damage on Cole Court as a JCCI crew cleared trees and limbs.
The American Red Cross set up a shelter at the First Baptist Church of Commerce, where church personnel provided food Tuesday night.
Church members transported residents from the affected area to the church and delivered meals out to the scene. The Commerce School System prepared breakfasts on behalf of the Red Cross Wednesday. The First United Methodist Church prepared food for fire, EMS and utility workers, and Mt. Calvary Baptist Church served as a shelter for displaced residents.
Two churches, First Baptist of Commerce and New Salem United Methodist, have offered themselves as clearinghouses for providing volunteer labor for repairs and cleanup for those with damage but no insurance.
GEMA arrived Wednesday morning in Gov. Sonny Perdue’s helicopter to assess the damage. A representative of the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s office arrived Friday to put up posters offering help resolving insurance-related matters.
The storm largely spared the city’s electrical system. McKown said none of the city’s primary lines were affected, and only a few service lines were knocked down. Most of the affected area is served by Georgia Power, which had damage to a major transmission line as well as countless secondary lines.
