Georgia hospital 'gone, just gone' after tornado

[rodeodance]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/03/02/americus.tornado/index.html?section=cnn_topstories&eref=yahoo


Georgia hospital 'gone, just gone' after tornado

POSTED: 12:37 p.m. EST, March 2, 2007
Story Highlights
• 55 to 60 patients in Americus hospital had to be evacuated
• Twister shredded walls, tossed cars, blew out windows
• More than 200 homes in town of 17,000 severely damaged
• 20 people across three states died, two of them in Americus

AMERICUS, Georgia (CNN) -- When nurse Dana Rylander arrived for work at Sumter Regional Hospital on Friday, she was stunned.

She had no idea that a tornado had ripped through Americus, Georgia, the night before -- killing two people, shredding parts of the hospital, tossing cars on top of each other and severely damaging more than 200 homes in this town of 17,000.

"It's gone. It's just gone," she said, looking up at the hospital where dozens of windows were blown out, part of its façade sheared off and glass scattered everywhere.

At the hospital's entrance, a 2-by-4 was implanted in a cinder block wall. Large rocks that had been used to help drainage on the roof were hurled like baseballs, smashing through cars in the parking lot.

But the damage wasn't limited to the hospital. Across the town, trees were uprooted and tossed like sticks. The front of a Winn-Dixie grocery store was ripped off and most of the roof of a medical center, about a block from the main hospital, was peeled off.

[Dob Bole]

1. UPDATE: 'Carter County' hit by Tornado

I've begun a new thread; my old one could no longer be edited and can now be deleted. Here is the latest news from CNN:

"In Americus, a tornado slammed into the Sumter Regional Hospital, shutting it down as health workers were treating victims coming in from the storm. The tornado also blew away the hospital's ambulance fleet, according to spokesman Buzz Weiss of the state Emergency Management Agency.

The patients, none of whom was killed, were transferred to other hospitals, and ambulances were sent from Albany, 35 miles away, Weiss said. (Full story)

Sumter County Sheriff Pete Smith said two people were killed and at least seven people were critically injured away from the hospital.

The twister also destroyed the local headquarters of the Red Cross, its generators and three of its disaster trailers, an official said.

As many as 400 homes may have been destroyed, the local Red Cross estimated, and a shelter has been opened at the First Baptist Church.

The city will be under a curfew and school was canceled Friday, Smith said. Ninety state troopers were slated to arrive in the town of 17,000 on Friday morning, he said.

Nine of the 20 deaths happened in southern Georgia -- six in Baker County, two in Americus and one in Taylor County -- Weiss said."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/03/02/severe.weather/index.html

Sumter-Regional Hospital in Americus, Georgia was hit by a tornado last night. My sister-in-law works there, and was called in to work until 1:00 AM this morning evacuating the hospital. As of 6:30 ET when I spoke to her, she said that there had been a fire in the hospital, all of the windows were blown out, and much of the building would probably have to be rebuilt. Patients are being relocated to other cities, and at least 2 have died. A former president of Georgia Southwestern State University was already in the hospital in critical condition, but at this time I do not know what has become of him.

Here is an image of the hospital, from the Americus Times Recorder:

http://www.americustimesrecorder.com/homepage/images_sizedimage_061091520/lg

[Sequoia]

2. I feel bad for you all over there. Such a sad day. Take care.

[Dob Bole]

3. President Carter's hospital hit by a Tornado

http://www.americustimesrecorder.com/local/local_story_061093247.html

"AMERICUS — At least one tornado touched down in Americus at 9:10 p.m. Thursday, resulting in devastation including extensive property damage and possible deaths.

...At least 75 patients were evacuated from Sumter Regional Hospital after it was hit. Emergency medical personnel were called in from other communities to help out and to transport patients to hospitals in other towns.

The Sumter County Fairgrounds on Ga. Highway 30 West has been designated as an emergency shelter. The city was under a strict curfew until 6 a.m. today.

It was not known how many people in Sumter County were without power after the storms."


Sumter-Regional Hospital in Americus, Georgia was hit by a tornado last night. My sister-in-law works there, and was called in to work until 1:00 AM this morning. As of 6:30 ET when I spoke to her, she said that there had been a fire in the hospital, all of the windows were blown out, and much of the building would probably have to be rebuilt. Patients are being relocated to other cities, and at least 2 have died. A former president of Georgia Southwestern State University was already in the hospital in critical condition, and I don't know if he made it out.

IMAGE OF THE HOSPITAL:

http://www.americustimesrecorder.com/homepage/images_sizedimage_061091520/lg

Edit: I'm heading there after work to make sure that all of my wife's family is ok.
Americus is also the International Headquarters for Habitat for Humanity. I'll report more as I find out more information.

[DemoTex]

4. I just talked with a good friend in Americus ..

He is a good friend of the former president of Georgia Southwestern. In fact, my friend was sitting in the office of the current president of the university when I talked with him on his cell phone thirty minutes ago. They are trying to sort out what happened in the community, at the hospital, and elsewhere around that area. They do not know the status of the former-president of GSW, but his condition prior to the storms was very grave.

My friend said that the damage in Americas is heavy. The houses on both sides of his are down, but his house was totally un-touched. The GSW campus was not damaged, either. Such is the nature of nature.

[zbdent]

5. Irony of the 70's show "Carter Country"

was that the redneck police station was based in -

Clinton Corners ...

prescient ...

[silverojo]

6. But there's no global warming...really!

Al Gore's just making it all up! :sarcasm:

My heart goes out to these poor people in these hard-hit cities and towns. :(

[Retired AF Dem]

9. Global warming has nothing to do with it

Here in the south east tornado season is mar-may. Than we have another tornado season in Nov. Here is a little link for you, tornado's have always been a common occurrence here in Mar.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/tornadoes/mar.php

[JNelson6563]

12. Exactly...and the "fossil record" is all a big lie!

;-)

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ghost Dog]

8. Pacha Mama. Love the ´Ç', btw, rodeodance.

Interesting weather, these days, ¿huh?

[amagusta]

10. Punishment from God

This is clearly God;s punishment for Carter's criticizing Israel. . . .
Unless it's punishment from God to a state that harbors so many Christian Zionists.
(Unless it's just global warming.)

[Porcupine]

11. Just God keeping the South religious.

Here in the West we have Democratic disasters. Earthquakes, wildfires and floods beat up the rich and poor alike. Back East you have Republican disasters. Tornadoes pick and choose and they seem to pick on poor people.

Tornadoes are why the southern religious zealots seem to believe that God hates the poor.