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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

Volunteers tackle debris on Recovery Day

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photo Bob Lee talks about his family’s survival of the April 27, 2011, and March 2 tornadoes Saturday as members of First United Methodist Church help clear debris from his property in Bradley County.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The Bob Lee family has been listening to the sounds of demolition at the Blue Springs Elementary School echoing across the valley to their home for several days.

“It was sad to hear,” Lee said Saturday as chain saws buzzed outside his own replaced modular home.

Volunteers were cutting large tree trunks that have been on the ground over a year, a memorial to the April 27, 2011, tornado that swept across Blue Springs Road and the rest of Bradley County.

The Lees were hit again March 2 when a tornado tore the roof off their modular replacement home.

“You can’t give up,” Lee said. “There are people worse off than we are.”