The slogans #ChattanoogaStrong and #NoogaStrong have been reappearing in the area lately and are emblematic of the efforts by Chattanooga and Hamilton County residents to restore their homes and neighborhoods devastated by the Easter Sunday night tornado.
For those new to the area or those who may not remember, those words first appeared following the July 16, 2015, terrorist attack in which a Kuwaiti-born Hixson man who had become a naturalized U.S. citizen killed four Marines and one Navy member at the United States Naval Reserve Center off Amnicola Highway before being killed by police.
The attack occurred during a time when the United States saw a rise in shootings by radicalized domestic or international terrorists.
The display of #ChattanoogaStrong and #NoogaStrong slogans in the months following the incident was area residents' way of surrounding the families, friends and fellow service members of the slain five and saying to the nation how profoundly sad they were for what happened but how united they were in the face of it.
Over the last couple of weeks, though, the slogans have dealt with the restoration of power to the affected neighborhoods - mostly in Brainerd and East Brainerd - and the efforts of neighbor to help neighbor.
During the period, we have seen firsthand glimpses of that work. Among them:
* American flags appearing at mailboxes or on homes, some of them with significant damage. The display of the flag - unfortunately disdained by an increasing number of people today - seems to proudly say, as in many times of struggle the country has endured, that this too shall pass and that we will survive and become stronger.
* Neighbors meeting neighbors. There is nothing like a natural disaster to bring people who may never have met before together - albeit a socially distant 6 feet apart - to exchange tornado experiences, roofer names, critical information for mail carriers and a little good-natured gossip.
* Law enforcement agencies keeping watch. Even though some homeowners have experienced shameful looting in the affected areas, Chattanooga police and Hamilton County Sheriff's Office officers have been a welcome presence at subdivision entrances, throughout streets and in cul-de-sacs, offering rides in four-wheel type vehicles, exchanging information with residents and even using the restrooms of homeowners glad to be able to offer something.
* The presence of out-of-state electrical companies. On many occasions in the past, Chattanooga firms have been hired to assist with work following hurricanes on the coast, tornadoes in other states or ice storms in various parts of the South. This time around, the favor was returned.
According to EPB, workers from utility and repair companies in seven Southeastern states were hired to help rebuild much of the agency's electrical grid in the tornado-ravaged area. In all, 56 miles of new power line were re-strung and 15 miles of new power lines were installed.
* The ingenuity of electrical workers. Without an ability to move one day between electrical company blockages on a street in one affected area, we were able to see - among other things - helicopters hovering in the distant that lifted workers to attach wires to electric towers and work pickup trucks extending electric wire from new pole to new pole - instead of someone walking it - by having one end tied around its trailer hitch and moving forward.
* The awesome power of tree removal tools. When one has two dozen or so trees on the back side of one's house, even an army of do-gooder agencies can't do a lot in a short time with chainsaws alone. Watching a crane truck hook a device around the middle of a tree and lift it - each tree weighing approximately a ton apiece - over the house and into a pile where it can be cut up is both scary and fascinating.
The accompanying tractor-like vehicle meeting the tree on the street side of the house grasps the tree at one end and lays it down on the growing debris pile as gently as a new mother might lay down her newborn child for the first time. That same vehicle can grasp large piles of debris and stack it compactly and then tuck in the loose ends as if that same mother were putting a blanket around her child.
* The army of help. To begin to list all the local, national and international churches, organizations and agencies who have come into affected neighborhoods and surrounded residents and workers would be impossible. From the moment dawn broke on the Monday morning following the tornado, volunteers came into neighborhoods with chainsaws. Since then, they have supplied meals, health kits, tools, blankets, clothes and debris cleanup, among many other things. Today, two weeks after the tornado, they continue their assistance.
A tornado on top of a global pandemic, shuttered businesses and a potential economic recession is testing even the most stalwart of Chattanooga area residents. Fortunately, as so many have shown with their actions and their assistance over the past two weeks, #NoogaStrong in our city and county is more just a slogan.