The residents at the Quitman Villa Apartments experienced a terrifying event on May 18 when a tornado hit the apartment complex.
According to reports from the weather service, the EF-1 tornado developed along North Archusa Ave. near North Jackson Ave. at around 2:15 that day. It then went along Highway 145 before crossing County Road 141 and eventually ending in the woods near the Clarke County Airport.
The event was unexpected since there were no watches or warnings issued at the time. Some individuals at the apartment witnessed the tornado. One individual, Alice Johnson, was actually sitting outside at the bus stop and saw the whole thing take place.
“I was sitting in the bus stop from beginning to end. It all happened real fast. It started raining really bad. The next thing you know, there was this loud noise. Roofs started flying off the buildings, especially that one close to 145. It started flying around, and some of it was landing on the ground and some in the trees,” recalled Alice. “I was just praying it wouldn’t come over here to the bus stop after me. After everything just dropped and landed, the rain stopped and everything was back to normal. There were just roofs everywhere.”
Alice wasn’t the only person who was blessed to avoid harm from the tornado. Pamela Hopkins, a resident at one of the apartments which was hit, had a terrifying experience with the first tornado she has ever had to go through.
“I was inside my apartment with the door open, and it started raining real hard. Then, the wind picked up and things started snapping, so I stuck my head out the door to see what was going on. A piece of tin stuck to a board came flying up to my door,” expressed Pamela. “If I’d had my head out any further, it would’ve chopped my head off because of how close it got. I froze for a moment and then grabbed Mrs. Peggy since she was in the apartment with me and pulled her into the half bath downstairs. I thought the tin was coming off my roof, but it was off the two other buildings.”
Residents in the apartments further back heard the noise generated from the tornado. Ms. Davis decided to investigate the noise thinking it was someone messing with a car, but she didn’t expect what she saw.
“It came out of nowhere. The weather had been fine before that. I went inside, and then I heard a loud noise and came back outside. I thought someone was making a loud noise with a car, so I came out to check,” explained Ms. Davis. “The trees were bent over, and I looked up and saw debris flying in the air. The maintenance man started shouting that it was a tornado. I was trying to warn my neighbors because I thought the debris was going to fly back our way and hit us. There was a big piece of debris that was just swirling, and then all of a sudden it just dropped down.”
One of the neighbors that Ms. Davis was trying to warn was Dirish Sterling. Although Dirish had just opened the door and checked outside, she only knew that the weather was bad and came back in to go about her usual business at home.
“We didn’t have any type of sirens, and nothing was coming over the phones to warn us. I was doing something in my room and heard a noise like a train. I thought it was an old car or something coming from the junk yard,” remembered Dirish. “I had just come back in and heard that loud noise, but I didn’t know it was a tornado. My neighbor was trying to warn us.”
Multiple others at the apartments witnessed the rotation and the damage it was causing. Everyone was blessed that there were no injuries reported and that the only damage was structural.
