Residents of this region of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama watched with mounting anxiety, then fear, then terror as a record-smashing outbreak of tornadoes enveloped portions of the Southeast one year ago today.
Local meteorologists worked without ceasing to keep viewers advised as best they could about when and where the next twister was likely to hit. They undoubtedly saved lives.
But the scope of the disaster was so great that casualties were inevitable. In our region alone, 81 lives were lost, and many more people were injured. The Apison area and Ringgold, Ga., particularly were hit hard.
Then there was the eye-popping property damage, which has generated about $3 billion worth of insurance payouts in Alabama, $2 billion in Tennessee and more than $430 million in Georgia, according to reports. And that doesn’t include uninsured losses for which there may never be a full accounting.
If that were the end of the story, the events of April 27, 2011, would be an unmitigated tragedy.