AMCAT Global contractors stabilize Harrison First Baptist Church days after a tornado damaged the roof and blew debris 100 yards down Highway 58. General manager Brandon Wilson, center, said the church should be back to normal in about 60 days but should be habitable for services in the meantime. From left are Ryan Hilliard, Jason Lowe, Wilson, Mark Garrett and Jeremy Howard.
Photo by Hannah CampbellHarrison First Baptist Church pastor Kenneth McElhaney was hard at work at McElhaney Upholstery next door to the church at 5:30 a.m. Oct. 25, the morning a tornado touched down in Harrison.
The 70-mph tornado recorded by the National Weather Service damaged the roofs of the main church building and the fellowship hall, picking up McElhaney's 10-by-30 upholstery storage building and moving it six feet back and six feet over.
"It just started shaking and, boy, the wind was blowing and picked up. My storm door, I thought, was coming off the hinges," McElhaney said. "It was so dark we couldn't exactly tell what was going on."
He said the storm lasted 25 or 30 seconds, "and then it was over and gone."
The wind took the church's front hand rails, once bolted in cement, knocked out a front porch column and tore off gutters. The fellowship hall's porch roof was found 100 yards down Highway 58. Air pressure inside the church broke out windows and blew the air filters out, and the sanctuary and fellowship hall suffered water damage that ruined flooring and the piano.
"It just got inside the church and havoced in there," McElhaney said.
McElhaney reported that the church's insurance company mobilized repairs immediately and sent contractors to seal the roof the morning of the tornado to prevent further damage.
Neighbors, including nearby Bayside Baptist Church, have offered their services but most repairs will be paid for by the insurance, McElhaney said.
"We're a small church but everyone's come in and done what they could do," he said. "Thank the Lord none of my business was damaged. It's funny how this thing happened. It just seemed like [the tornado] was hopping up and down over and over."
The Harrison First Baptist Church congregation originated in Old Harrison where Lake Chickamauga is now. When TVA flooded the land in the early 1940s the church moved to where Harrison Cemetery is now by Central High School, but that building soon burned down.
The church moved to its current location in the mid-1940s.
"We've been able to keep the doors open and give to missionaries and that's what we feel we need to do as a church," McElhaney said.