Seven dead, 23 injured after two tornadoes hit Murray County
Business, Community April 13, 2020Seven people are dead and 23 hospitalized as a result of at least one, possibly two tornadoes ripping through Murray County last night.
The yellow circles show where one of the tornadoes that tore through Murray County Sunday night did the most damage. Dewayne Bain, Director of Emergency Management for the county said the tornado, one of two, went approximately six miles, killing seven and hospitalizing 23.
According to Dewayne Bain, Director of Emergency Management, those numbers could change. The names of those killed have not been released, but Bain said three lived in one trailer and the others were in different trailers. All those killed were in the trailer park on Ridgeview Road. To see Bain’s press conference, go to our Youtube channel.
Governor Brian Kemp arrived at Bagley Middle School late Monday morning to survey damage. He declared another state of emergency for Georgia, this one centered around storm damage.
According to her daughter, Dina Rios, 66, was among those injured when the tornado came through this neighborhood in Murray County Sunday night. Seven people are dead and 23 were hospitalized followed the severe storm
He spoke briefly to Steve Loughridge, Superintendent of Murray County Schools and Greg Hogan, Sole Commissioner of Murray County.
“We lost part of the roof here (at Bagley Middle School),” Loughridge told him. “We had moved people from the apartments across the street to here.”
The roof was ripped off the apartments across from Bagley Middle School and emergency responders relocated about residents to the school.
The area hit the hardest was Hwy. 225 North past Bagley Middle School behind Murray County Fire Station number three. A tornado tore through two neighborhoods, mostly trailer parks and agriculture, leveling everything in it’s path. Another tornado traveled down Ga. Hwy 286.
“It traveled about six to six and half miles,” said Hogan of the Ga. Hwy. 225 twister.
Hogan said he’d seen livestock trapped by debris when he flew over the destruction Monday morning. To see his video footage, click here.
Deer Park Road, which consists of about 30 trailers, was in the path of a tornado Sunday night. It leveled more almost half of the trailers. In total, seven people died.
Michael Weaver was cleaning up debris in one neighborhood, where he owns five trailers. Four were completely gone.
“This one was rented,” he said, picking up the remainder of the concrete foundation. “But they hadn’t moved in yet.”
The move in was supposed to happen Monday, his wife added.
The bare lot beside his, marked only by remaining concrete blocks, was where another trailer had sat. This one was occupied when the tornado came through around 10 p.m.
“He’s okay,” Weaver said of the man who lived there. “He said he saw the top of the funnel when it lifted him up and dumped him on the other side of the of the bushes.”
He gestured to debris-laden bushes about thirty yards away.
“Mother nature throws curve balls every now and then,” he said.
Leave a comment