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Health & Fitness

A Damaged Roswell- Storm Aftermath

Areas of storm ravaged Roswell form June 13, 2013 storm.

It looked like business as usual in Roswell this morning. Joggers along Lake Charles Drive happily trotted along ... but hopped over tossed garbage cans, dodged downed trees and skirted around electric company trucks. The drive from Jones Road down Lake Charles looks ravaged. Tree canopied streets littered with snapped Leland's, oak trees and large tree limbs. On one side of Lake Charles the storm damage is undeniable and the other side is untouched save a few scattered leaves. There is an obvious path where last night's storm barreled through town. By 8 a.m. Friday the drive through lines at the McDonald's, at the intersection of Crossville and Woodstock Roads, was wrapped 15 cars deep around the building. Inside was nervous chatter from patrons about what they saw, the damage to their homes, and relief it wasn't "as bad as it could have been." A home near 73 Woodstock Road in historic downtown Roswell was completely demolished by a large oak tree; trees were littered along Jones Road, and neighbors were checking on neighbors. No word on the status of the demolished home's occupants. The sound of chainsaws began early this morning and will echo throughout the day. Minutes after I put my daughter to bed, I looked at my cell phone to find a National Weather Service tornado warning -"Take shelter now." In a multi-level home on a heavily wooded acre lot, I grabbed my 22-month-old, her portable crib, and our dog and headed down two levels to the basement. As I started to set up the crib near the below ground foundation wall, I grabbed her and with the 65 pound pit bull on my heels, hunkered down in the bathroom. The powered flickered on and off. I had a very low battery on my cell phone - and no reception in there; the phone lines were dead and I didn't have a working radio. I listened for what I have always heard people describe as "the sound of a freight train coming through" when a tornado hits, and I cuddled my daughter in my lap and sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She was calm, I was calm and surprisingly my dog was too. I hardly heard the rain, but around 7:50 p.m. I heard a loud but low all enveloping noise...I knew it was not the air kicking on, and knew it wasn't any sort of household noise. All of my senses energized and I trembled calmly as my daughter fell asleep in my arms. I have no idea what the noise was...a tornado or a microburst, but it was scary. I grew up in Florida. I like hurricane season. I like the electricity in the air and the anticipation of nature's power. As a journalist I love going out to photograph as news happens. But this time that instinct turned to fear for the safety of my daughter. I will take a hurricane any day. Once things seemed safe, I went to my car to charge the battery on my phone. My 6 foot tall rose bush was flattened, my hydrangeas were flattened and my garbage cans were down the street. We fared well. My neighbor lost a backyard fence to trees. As I sat in my car in the pitch dark while on the phone I heard a tree cracking. I braced myself for its landing. It crashed somewhere in the backyard and I decided to spend the rest of the night in the basement, by candlelight, with my sweet little girl. I hope others here, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and surrounding areas are all safe today.

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