Updated tornado coverage of March 1 storms

At least five Georgia Baptist churches received substantial damage and one associational office was destroyed following the tornado-spawning storms which rolled through three states and into central Georgia late Thursday evening, March 1. Georgia Baptist disaster relief volunteers are setting up on site to begin a variety of ministries.

At least 20 people – nine of them in Georgia – died in the night of terror.

As of Sunday morning March 4, the tally included the following damage.

In Americus:

• Central Baptist Church, Hugh DeLoach pastor, received considerable damage resulting from destruction of an outbuilding where motor vehicles were occasionally housed, destruction of the steeple that allowed water to pour into the sanctuary, and a back wall of the sanctuary which separated from the building;

• Cheek Memorial Baptist Church, severe damage to the sanctuary and parsonage;

• Friendship Baptist Association building, Charles Stoops director of missions, totally destroyed.

In Columbus:

• Wynnbrook Baptist Church, Brad Hicks senior pastor, considerable damage including the loss of two recently purchased buses that were rolled across the lot; roof and water damage to all of its buildings;

• Calvary Baptist Church, about a mile from Wynnwood, Don Wilhite senior pastor, extensive damage including a back wall of the sanctuary which was sucked out rendering the building unuseable, two walls of the two-year-old gym which were blown away, outdoor sports complex completely destroyed; however, the church’s senior adult retirement village and assisted living facility were untouched;

In Thomson, 90-minutes east of Atlanta:

• New Hope Baptist Church, Allen Holbrook pastor, considerable damage, back wall of educational wing pulled away, half of sanctuary windows blown out, heavy winds blew out all nursery furniture and windows, destroyed kitchen roof, pulled out most of drop ceiling panels, five personal vehicles totaled with dumpster rolled against one vehicle, 60-passenger bus damaged and moved 25 feet with all windows blown out resulting in heavy water damage.

While much of the initial coverage centered around Americus, Columbus emerged as equally hard hit and even Thomson east of Atlanta reported damage to the church with several homes destroyed by an F2 tornado there.

Leonard Dupree, who retired as director of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s church minister relations department in 2004, told The Index that a storm caused considerable damage to New Hope and homes in the community.

Dupree, who serves as interim at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Washington, said Thomson was without power for nearly 12 hours following the storm.

Allen Holbrook, pastor of New Hope, said it was a miracle that about a half-dozen individuals in the church at the time were not killed or seriously injured. A Bible study was just concluding when the fast-moving storm hit around 8:30 p.m., he told The Index on Saturday night.

Randy Martin and his wife, Phyllis, were prayer walking the building in Kilpatrick Association when the storm hit.

“The lights went off and then came back on, giving us a false sense of security. Then it hit so fast we didn’t have time to do anything. Phyllis said she heard a sound like a freight train but that train wasn’t blowing any whistle.”

Martin said it felt like the storm last 45 minutes but it was probably no longer than 15 seconds.

“We heard the steel building coming apart around us, twisting 24-inch I-beams like pretzels.”

Linda Lively was teaching a Celebrate Recovery Bible study in a classroom when her daughter called to warn her of an approaching tornado that had been spotted in the area, but she didn’t expect it to stay on the ground. Five minutes later, it hit the church.

“Rebecca Smith, one of the women in our group, had just entered the room with her year-old baby that she had picked up from the nursery. Within a minute or two the nursery was completely destroyed. It hit so fast we just squatted down and started prayin,” she said.

“God had his arms all over us that night. After it was all over we were amazed that the baby’s life had been spared while of the men’s wallets in the room with us had been pulled out of his pocket. I don’t know if he ever found it,” she says.

The church planned to hold a brief worship service on Sunday, thanks to power provided by some generators.

In Americus, Director of Missions Charles Stoops waded through blocks of damage and twisted debris to reach the site of the associational building. It was a pile of rubble.

“The insurance adjuster told me (one the telephone) to make sure and secure all the openings. I don’t think he quite understood the damage here,” he said.

“I was able to get our stuff out se we could get on to helping other people. I was able to get the historical records and the hard drives from the computers and the checkbook. I only had about 45 minutes to get out of there,” said Stoops, who had been on staff only since October.

“We’re going to be OK. I’ve already had offers to set up an office in several churches. We’ll rebuild and we can find a place to work in the meantime. The churches and homes are in much worse shape than we are.”

In Columbus, Wynnwood Baptist Church called off a Thursday evening Young Life meeting because of the strong winds and heavy rains. Thirty minutes later a tornado hit the building where the group was to meet. It exploded, with half the building disintegrating and the other half flung across the campus.

“We were to have 100 youth in our building that we call ‘The Lodge.’ It could have been a tragedy,” said Senior Pastor Brad Hicks.

“We are grateful to God that everyone was out of that building.”

Stuart Lang, who coordinates disaster relief for the GBC, told The Index on Sunday morning that work crews were enroute to Americus and Columbus and would spend the evening hours setting up onsite.

Six units were dispatched to Americus. A feeding unit will be set up at First Baptist Church to provide hot meals for the community and volunteers. Three cleanup and recovery units, a supply unit, an operations unit, and a communications unit will be stationed at Southland Academy adjacent to Central Baptist Church. Jack Seegers will oversee the Americus operations.

Columbus will have two cleanup and recovery units and a low-level feeding unit based out of Schomburg Road Baptist Church. The feeding unit will provide meals for volunteers working in the area.

Lang said the units will initially remain on site for two weeks with crews rotating on a regular basis. The timeline will be extended as needs dictate.