Killer storms hit area
by MCL Staff Writer

Storm victims, Donna and Billy Etchells of Newton, sitting on porch, the only thing left of their home on SR 37. Killer storms hit area

Several tornadoes, heavy rains, lightning storms and high winds struck areas in east Alabama and in southwest Georgia Thursday, March 1.

There are changing reports on numbers killed and injured, but the latest reports available are that the tornadoes killed 19 people, injuring many others and destroying homes, churches, a hospital, a school, businesses and property over Georgia and Alabama. A report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution stated that tornadoes killed nine people in Georgia, 10 in Alabama, and a 7-year-old girl in Missouri.

Enterprise, Alabama, a city of 22,000, was hard hit as the killer winds claimed the lives of eight of the students at Enterprise High School when the concrete roof collapsed as the students got into the hallway when a tornado hit.

More tornadoes hit Americus and Newton. Two were killed as the storm ripped through Americus destroying homes, businesses and property. The hospital in Americus was severely damaged as the twisting winds took off a portion of the roof.

President George W. Bush flies into Alabama on Air Force One to inspect damage in Alabama and Georgia.

In Baker County, just outside of Newton, six people off of Pretoria Road, in two separate homes lost their lives as more tornadoes ravaged the area. On State Highway 37, just outside of Newton, homes were destroyed; one church was destroyed, and other property was heavily damaged as the twisters took down trees and anything else that was in the path of the storm. Hundreds of trees were snapped off as the tornado moved along State Route 91 north of Newton. Another fatality was credited to the storm in Taylor County, just north of Americus.

President Bush was in the air and on the ground at the scene of the damaged areas in Alabama and Georgia within 48 hours after the disaster. "Today I have walked through devastation that is hard to describe," Bush said, standing with his arm around a student who had a tear running down her face, "Our thoughts, of course, go to the students who perished. We thank God for the hundreds who lived."

Cleanup crews work hard to dig what is left of St. Mathews Baptist Church as most of the building

President Bush has designated Coffee County, AL. as well as Baker and Sumter counties in Georgia as major disaster areas, releasing federal dollars for recovery and individual assistance.

Members of the Colquitt/ Miller County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, the Miller County Sheriff's Department and Miller County EMS officers and vehicles were in Baker County to assist with tornado victims.

Billy Etchells told this reporter that he wanted to stay in his home as the tornado was reported, but his wife, Donna, talked him out of it, and they went to a safer area.

"It's a good thing I listened to her. We would have both been killed if we had stayed. My semi tractor trailer as well as our home is across the road somewhere out in those woods," Etchells said. "This is the best place in the world to have troubles. The people in our area really care, and show it by helping. We are lucky to be here."