Tornado remembered on anniversary

Mar. 24—A year ago, parts of Milledgeville and Baldwin County sustained significant damages when an EF-1 tornado, packing winds of up to 105 mph, swooped down from a storm system that roared across central Georgia.

The date was Sunday, March 26, 2023 — one still etched in the minds of those who experienced it and its aftermath.

Baldwin County Emergency Management Director Wayne Johnson said considering some of the damages, which included a woman trapped inside her house when fallen trees crashed through it, it's fortunate no one locally was killed or seriously injured.

"The wind speeds that were measured showed we were on the high-end of an EF-1, and close to an EF-2 tornado," Johnson said while sitting in his office reflecting on the tornado.

The winds that hit locally were just six miles per hour less than an EF-2 tornado classification.

Keith Stellman, meteorologist in-charge of the National Weather Service's Peachtree City office, visited Milledgeville and looked at the damaged areas, including Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin hospital, which sustained widespread damage to buildings, awnings and signs.

The hospital campus was left littered with debris.

Gov. Brian Kemp and first lady Marty Kemp also toured some of the damaged areas with local government officials.

The Kemps also toured LaGrange and parts of Troup County, areas hit by a tornado the same weekend as the one that hit parts of Milledgeville and Baldwin County.

Neither of the counties qualified for uninsured federal disaster funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, based on the tornado damages assessments.

Near the local hospital, steel poles carrying electrical power services to the area were knocked down onto the roadway near the health department building.

Within a few days, crews with Georgia Power Co. had the poles back up and power service restored.

A few yards away, the tornado damaged the campus of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.

Large fallen oak trees dotted the landscape.

Johnson said Stellman mapped out the course that the tornado took after it struck the hospital campus and made its way along a business section on North Columbia Street.

Several businesses in a strip shopping center, as well as a loan business, were significantly damaged.

A billboard was torn down.

The tornado then took a path down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, tearing down dozens of trees, some of which damaged graves at nearby Bone Cemetery.

Elsewhere in that area, several houses were damaged.

After leaving the city limits, the tornado made its way into the county and along Black Springs Road, where trees were downed or uprooted.

Several houses in that area also sustained damage.

Johnson said the tornado could have been much worse had it not taken the track that it did.

"The tornado came down right there at the hospital and then went out to the end of Black Springs Road right at Ga. Route 22," Johnson recalled.

Along Black Springs Road, Johnson said there were indications where the tornado raised up in some areas and then dipped down in other places.

Johnson said damages from the tornado on the public assistance side were estimated at $750,000.

Public assistance involves government entities.

"That figure also included all debris removal, including labor time, etc." he added.

The old health department building, which is home to the Baldwin County EMA office, EMA trailers and vehicles and equipment, sustained roof damage.

"We had a lot of leaks that caused water to come into all three offices in this building," Johnson said. "We had a lot of roof damage."

Johnson said a lot of the roof damage resulted from roof debris that came off a business next door.

An EMA trailer, which was parked outside was destroyed, as was a cement block garage.

The garage, or what Johnson described as a shed on top of the hill outside the EMA office, was about 75% destroyed.

"The tornado knocked it almost completely down and took it away," Johnson said.

At least two ambulances were damaged. Several EMS employees' vehicles were totaled when a large oak tree slammed across them in the parking lot outside the local government building.

Johnson advises residents to take heed to weather statements issued by the National Weather Service.

"It shows that things like tornados or severe thunderstorms can happen anywhere," Johnson said. "We always need to be prepared and know what to do in event of bad weather."