An update on Newnan …

Since so many of you have been kind enough to reach out and ask how Alex and I fared with Friday's tornado that devastated my hometown of Newnan, Georgia, I thought that this Monday, it would be appropriate to update you on Newnan before I venture back into the sweeter world of teatime. I haven't been out to view the damage myself (local law enforcement has asked that we all stay away for now), but a friend who lives closer to town, Leigh McKnight, was kind enough to allow me to share some of her images here. Newnan High School has sustained heavy damage and is closed this week. 

I've probably not mentioned this here before, but Newnan served as a "hospital town" during the Civil War and was the site of a Confederate military hospital. Eventually, lots of the buildings in Newnan—including schools, churches, and some of the larger homes—were used in treating some of the thousands of soldiers. Following the battle of Brown's Mill in 1864, Newnan treated wounded soldiers from both the North and the South, so one of the theories of how we got our nickname of "The City of Homes" is that the city's homes were spared during the Civil War precisely because of its role as a hospital town. Now, some of these old homes could use a hospital themselves. This one is obviously damaged a bit (minor compared to many, many other homes), and if you're interested in seeing some before-and-after photos, go here on Facebook. The first "home" pictured after the high school is now a special events facility where friends and I have taken tea on numerous occasions. I was heartbroken to see the windows blown out and the porch sagging from the destruction. And our lovely old homes with columns blown away are practically unrecognizable.

As a lifelong Georgian, I am accustomed to tornadoes coming through in the springtime. I remember hiding out in the basement with my sister and parents when I was a little girl. Alex and I don't have a basement, but when tornado warnings buzzed on my phone around midnight Thursday, we went to our bathroom downstairs to wait out the storm. The house shook a few times and there was some serious thunder and lightning, but that was it. I didn't think much of it until I checked Facebook and saw where one of my close friends said her house 10 miles away had been hit, the windows blown out and the roof ripped off, and that downtown Newnan looked like "a war zone." Then another friend posted video of rain pouring through the ceiling of her house. Then I learned a former coworker's home was hit. I now know so many with damage that I've stopped counting. Videos appeared online very quickly the next day, and it was eerie to see houses with roofs and upper floors ripped away and utility lines scattered across the road like so much Silly String. Amazingly, my understanding is that no one died directly from the tornado. (Sadly, one man died of a heart attack on the way to go rescue his daughter, who was supposed to get married the next day.)

So while cleanup is obviously going to take a long while, the good news is that Newnan is a very *giving* town. In fact, we saw on Facebook that the police department was asking for donations of water and nonperishable food, so we got dressed and headed to the grocery store. On the way, I checked my Facebook feed (never so grateful for Facebook!) to be sure of where to drop it off, and they posted that they were already overflowing with donations and for people to please hold off for a while. That story was repeated at other collection sites across town that asked people to hold off on any more giving. Any time there's been a tragedy here, I see the same sort of response, so we're waiting to see whether to buy tangible items later in the week or simply make a donation to one of the relief agencies. People's kindness to each other has brought me to tears. So Newnan doesn't really need anything but your thoughts and prayers right now!

And speaking of prayer … my prayers these past few days are full of thanks to the Lord that there wasn't a major loss of life from this tornado. When I saw this photo that Leigh took, I really pondered that cross showing up in the damage here at Holy Week. I'm so glad she noticed it!

So if I haven't overshared with you today, I'll end with a link to a local company's drone footage showing how "The City of Homes" has turned into "The City of Tarped Homes." But everyone is grateful because it could have been so, so much worse. And I am grateful that some of you tea friends were kind enough to check on me.

Wednesday, I trust, we'll be back to talking about teatime here!