Griffin residents clean up, take stock after devastating tornado

SPALDING COUNTY, Ga — As a tornado bore down on her neighborhood outside Griffin, Dedra Taylor did the only thing she knew to do – she prayed.

She sat in her living room chair, watching as the storm knocked pictures off her walls.

“The trailer started shaking, and the only thing I could say was ‘you know what God, I don’t care about the pictures, I just care about my life,” Taylor said.

The tornado passed with little damage to her home. But others in the Pine Glen mobile home park did not fare as well. Rosnel Elian’s home was destroyed, crushed by fallen pine trees.

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“I was at work yesterday when my friend called me and said my home was destroyed,” he said. “I lost everything.”

He and his wife spent some of the day reaching through the window, trying to retrieve clothing and other belongings.

Right next door, a pine sliced a mobile home in half. Kayla Ragsdale’s mother lived in the home. “I mean, there’s nothing we can do right now,” she said. “We’re just going to salvage what we can salvage and do what we can do.”

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A couple of miles away, Dennis Richards sat crouched by his fireplace as the storm raged. A large pine tree smashed his roof, creating a sopping mess inside. “It was pretty intense,” he said. “It was like being at a concert where the speakers are really loud.”

Pine trees lay strewn across his property off Jackson Road; some toppled into a small lake. With no power, he stayed overnight in the house, grateful for his life. “It’s the good Lord’s blessing,” he said. “I’m unscathed.”

Officials said there were 18 people injured in Spalding County, but no deaths.

For those who need a place to stay, the Red Cross has opened a shelter at the First United Methodist Church on Maple Drive in Griffin.

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