Tornado: February 5, 2008
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Tornado Information As everyone knows, Macon County and the city of Lafayette were hit by a devastating tornado February 5, 2008. The tornado has left 18 people dead and 250 homes and businesses destroyed. |
Aerial photo of the golf course in Lafayette taken February 7, 2008. The
photo was sent to us by the Macon County Chamber of Commerce. We do not
know the photographer's name. Hi-res photo
(650K).
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Long Term Recovery of Macon County The purpose of the Long Term Recovery of Macon County committee is to coordinate the delivery of long term recovery assistance to the victims of a major disaster. This involves multiple agencies, including governmental entities, not-for-profit agencies, community, civic and service groups, religious, and educational organizations, etc. LTRMC now has an office located at 668 Highway 52 Bypass West (the old State Farm office). The mailing address is P. O. Box 715, Lafayette, TN 37083. To contact the organization or one of its officers, call 615-666-9714. For more information, please visit: www.ltrmc.org |
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Watch Out for Scam Artists Mayor Shelvy Linville had advised people to watch out for scam artists. There are people that are trying to take advantage of this situation. Here are some tips:
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The people in Lafayette and Macon County, Tennessee, would like to sincerely
thank everyone for their support and encouragement during these difficult times.
We are blessed to live in a state, a country, and a world where people truly
care about one another. Hundreds of people have opened their hearts and
donated money, food, clothing, and other necessities to the people here who need
them most. We are also blessed to have people donating their time and
their services towards the clean-up effort. We also thank our churches,
the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Southern Baptist Convention, the
Christian Appalachian Project, the Humane Society of the United states,
and other organizations who are all heavily involved in tornado-relief efforts.
Macon County will rebuild, and we will become a better, stronger community.
Again, thank you all so very much for your help and support!
President Bush Visits Macon County
Macon County is honored to have welcomed President George W. Bush who toured
tornado-ravaged sections of Lafayette and Macon County on Friday, February 8,
2008. We appreciate the support! Photo above: President George W. Bush
spends a moment with Shelvy Linville, Mayor of Macon County, Tennessee, after
attending a briefing Friday, Feb. 8, 2008, on the regional tornado damage left
in the wake of Tuesday's deadly storms. White House photo by Chris Greenberg.
Click here for more photos of Mr. Bush's trip on the President's web site.
(Note: if the previous link fails to work after President George W. Bush leaves
office in January 2009, we have copied most of the information from the White
House web site to this page on the Lafayette
web site.)
Want to Help?
Scores of people in Lafayette and Macon County have lost everything, and help
from the outside world would be greatly appreciated. The best way you can
help is to mail a check or money order payable to the Macon County Tornado
Relief Fund
to any of these addresses:
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c/o Citizens Bank 400 Highway 52 Bypass West Lafayette, TN 37083 |
c/o GreenBank P. O. Box 408 Lafayette, TN 37083 |
c/o Macon Bank & Trust P. O. Box 10 Lafayette, TN 37083 |
Another option is to make a contribution to the Macon County Education Foundation. MCEF has set up a separate account for storm-related donations. MCEF does a huge amount of work in helping Macon County children and Macon County schools. MCEF is a 501(c)3, non-profit organization. Many children in Macon County are tornado victims, and a contribution to MCEF will definitely be of help to them. For more information on MCEF and how to contribute, please click here.
Thank you for your kindness!!
About the Tornado
The National Weather Service has rated the tornado that went through Macon
County as EF-2 with some places receiving EF-3 damage.
Wikipedia has a
good article of the Enhanced Fujita scale. See the press release
from the National Weather Service in the yellow box below.
Governor Bredesen flew over Macon County in a helicopter on February 6, 2008. The Governor describes the tornado path as being 20 to 25 miles long and looking like "the Lord took a Brillo pad and scrubbed the ground." This path runs from Castalian Springs [Sumner County], through Macon County, to the Kentucky border.
This link will take you to an interactive Google map that will show you the approximate path of the tornado through Macon County. This is not an official map!!!! The map is based on news reports. On the Google map, you may zoom in and out. You may also hold down the left mouse button and drag to move the map around.
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National Weather Service Public Information Statement |
Disaster Relief Now
Available
FEMA/TEMA
If you sustained damages or losses in one of the counties declared a disaster
area (Macon and Sumner are included), you may be eligible for State and Federal
disaster funds. Please click
here for details. (Opens in Microsoft Word.)
USDA Rural Development
From Joe Woody, Area Director, Cookeville, USDA Rural Development:
You can go online and look at our info
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rhs/common/program_info.htm#SFH
Under housing look at the following:
Rural Housing Direct Loan (home loan for 33 years with payment based on
your income)
Housing Repair & Rehabilitation Loan (for very-low individuals @ 1% to
do repairs that remove health and safety issues. Ex: windows, roofing,
insulation, handicap accessibility issues.)
Housing Repair & Rehabilitation Grant (for very-low individuals over 62
years of age. Can get up to a $7,500 grant to do repairs.)
Churches
The Antioch Missionary Baptist Church on Galen Road was completely destroyed.
Grace Baptist
Church on Brattontown Circle was destroyed.
New Zion
Missionary Baptist Church. located on the Williams Road just off
Akersville Road, was also a total loss due to the tornado.
Lafayette United
Methodist Church Pastor Michael Welch, his wife, Julie, and their two
young children, Jesse, and Hannah, were killed in a tragic six-vehicle
accident on February 7, 2008. Traffic was backed up on TN 52 due to
the tornado damage in Lafayette, when the Welch's van was struck from
behind by a fully-loaded tractor trailer.
E-mail from Karen Brown and
Tracy Childress
Dear Macon County citizens,
We wanted to let you know that on behalf of the entire Economic and Community
Development family with the State of Tennessee, we are thinking of you. Our
thoughts and prayers are with your family, friends, and the entire community
today and over the coming months.
Sincerely,
Karen Brown and Tracy Childress,
Regional Economic Development Specialists,
State of Tennessee,
Economic and Community Development Department
Shane Sliger writes, "These is my dad, John Spencer (a.k.a. Big John), in his
La-Z-Boy recliner he road out the storm in."
National Weather Service
Radar Loop
This is an
interesting video of the NWS Nashville radar during the tornado of February
5, 2008. Watch the large red area as it moves through Nashville.
Keep following the same area northeast. Just before the storm moves into
Kentucky, you'll see it in Macon County where Lafayette is.
Audio Podcasts
Darrell Kirk of Seattle, Washington has three telephone interviews with people
in Lafayette: John Spencer, Rosetta Banda, and Dusty McGiver. Each of
these people has a fascinating story to tell about his or her experience with
the Lafayette tornado of February 5, 2008. Please click on this link below
to hear the podcasts. [Note: Darrell has included some sound clips
(tornado sirens, police radios, voices, etc.) at the front of each podcast that
aren't related to the Lafayette tornado.)
http://tornadowitness.podshowcreator.com/
Photos
The National Weather Service, Nashville Office, has an
incredible collection of 95 photographs. This is from their survey of
Macon County tornado damage. Please click on the link below:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bna/surveys/images/020508/macon_county/ss080205_macon.php?start=4
We invite everyone to send us photos they have taken of tornado damage in Macon County. We will be glad to credit you for the photos. However, once we put your photos on the web site, for all practical purposes, the photos will be in the public domain for anyone to download and use as they see fit. In other words, please don't send copyrighted photos.
Photos - page 5.
Photos - page 4.
Photos - page 3.
Photos - page 2.
Photos - page 1.
Please click here to send an e-mail. Please attach your photos to the e-mail.
 In Memoriam Carol Boyd Mark Brown, Jr. Javier Bueno Castillo Johnny Doolin Dixie Ellis Stan Francis William Manier Pablo Osorio Rex Payne Joan Rodriquez Jim Shaw William Clark Randy Wilkerson Mike Welch Hannah Welch Julie Welch Jessie Welch |