Hall/ White County Tornado
March 20, 1998
The Storm
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$15 million in damage
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200 mph winds along 10 mile path
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12 people killed, 11 in Hall County, one in White County
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91 persons injured
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Five counties affected
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41 houses, 29 mobile homes totally destroyed
Five associations-Chattahoochee, North Georgia Area, Mountains Area, Hightower,
and Tugalo-sustained heavy damage
The Response....From the churches
Three Southern Baptist churches near the heart of the destruction played critical roles in the
disaster response.
Lakewood--Serving as a Red Cross shelter and food distribution site. Georgia
Baptist disaster relief unit 2F from Kilpatrick association, a feeding unit, was on site
and prepared meals that were taken into the filed. The student building was used to
house displaced families. Tom Smiley, pastor.
Corinth--Served as the operations center for disaster relief cleanup/recovery units;
Red Cross processing center for families needing emergency assistance; providing
housing and feeding of the five cleanup crews based there. Steve Albanese, pastor
Concord--Serving as a Red Cross shelter for displaced families; Small Business
Administration operating out of the fellowship hall; church provided counseling ministry.
Glen Cox, pastor
The Response....From the Associations
Seven disaster response units responded from the following associations.
Chattahoochee-Communications unit 14
Kilpatrick-Feeding unit 2
West Metro-Cleanup and recovery unit 10
Roswell-Etowah-Cleanup and recovery unit 12
South Georgia- Cleanup and recovery unit 16
Tugalo-Cleanup and recovery unit 7
Georgia-Cleanup and recovery unit 15
The Sunday following the storm, pastor Steve Albanese of Corinth Baptist Church near Gainesville
delivered his "Sermon for the suffering" message.
Brother Steve's opening comments were:
"The wind may blow away our cars, our homes, even our loved ones.
But it cannot blow
away our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord"
