I remember the day well but many of our newer residents may not be aware of the devastation that hit our community on April 9th, 1998. If you were not aware or to young when it happened, check out the video to gain some perspective of those who not only lived through the event but then used it to bring the community closer together in so many ways.
4 comments:
John; Thank you for posting that. I remember being at Vanderlyn about five years after this during a tornado warning when we were all out in the hallways, crouched, with our hands over our heads. The hallway with the 4th and 5th graders had many children sobbing because they remembered this tornado and a number of them came from homes that experienced severe damage.
Also, new Dunwoody residents may be interested to know that some people whose homes got destroyed chose to move to other parts of Dunwoody. That's a strong statement about how people feel about this community. You may find some of these "tornado families" live in your neighborhood. (FYI, there are also a number of families from Katrina here as well.)
By the way, Kathy Florence circulated printed information about insurance and contractors and other timely information in her tornado-stricken neighborhood. She turned this into a newsletter that proved very helpful. The Dunwoody Crier gave her space to reach more people easier. This grew into a column that outlasted its original intention and now informs all of Dunwoody about goings-on--titled Picket Fence. Big thanks to Kathy to seeing a need, filling it, and then adapting it to a larger, long-term purpose.
And finally, Lemonade Days was originally started to "turn lemons into lemonade" and to help replant the "Dunwoody Forest."
Tilly Mill used to be one of the prettiest streets to drive down, by the way, because of its mature tree canopy, much of which was lost during the tornado.
What could forget that early morning? As an adult, that experience will never leave me, so I can imagine the children that lived through it. To this day, any type of strong wind sends chills through me. I can still remember the smell of pine that filled the air once we all emerged from our homes. We lost many trees in our backyard, but we were able to re-landscape our backyard and have 3 dogwood trees were received through "Replant the Dunwoody Forest" program.
Our son was a third grader at the time of the tornado (our youngest was a mere four moinths!) He (our son) was deathly afraid of storms of anyh kind for many years after the tornado.
2020 Sucks 😢ðŸ˜
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