HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — UPDATE FRIDAY:
Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Brad Nitz says the National Weather Service has confirmed the Henry County tornado was an EF-2 tornado with peak winds of 135 miles per hour.
We’ll have the latest damage from Henry County, live on Channel 2 Action News.
ORIGINAL STORY:
An 18-year-old Henry County man remains in critical condition after a tornado touched down Thursday afternoon near Locust Grove, injuring him and his father.
Videos from Channel 2 Action News viewers showed the storm crossing over Interstate 75 before causing extensive damage to a nearby subdivision along Fresh Laurel Lane.
The teen and his father were sucked out of their home as it hit their house and demolished it.
“I pray for them, and I hope that they make it,” neighbor Courtney Bucio told Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco.
“It almost sounded like thunder and lightning, but it had more of an impact like shaking walls, you know, I mean terrifying,” neighbor Andreal Mallard said.
“I ran for the closet and took cover, got on my hands and knees, covered my head, and just started praying,” Bucio said.
When the noises stopped, neighbors came outside and saw their roofs ripped off, awnings blown away, and windows broken out.
And that home where the father and his 18-year-old son were hiding -- leveled.
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“My heart sank as soon as I saw the amount of damage, and it became very real, very fast,” Bucio said.
The neighbors said they searched until the county issued a shelter-in-place warning.
“A fireman or a police officer came around with an intercom saying everybody get back in your house, there’s another in the area,” Bucio said.
The order lifted less than an hour later, and police confirmed that rescuers found the dad and son.
They said the tornado sucked them out of the home and threw them.
“They found the kid in the woods,” Mallard said.
Their home is gone. The home next door is unsafe to enter.
Those neighbors told Francisco they were too shaken to talk on camera but said the Red Cross set up a shelter and gave gift cards to help with hotels and food for those who won’t be able to spend the night at home for some time.
“It spun up out of nowhere, which blows my mind. So have a plan,” Bucio said.
That shelter has been set up at nearby Bethlehem Elementary School in Locust Grove.
Other video submitted to Channel 2 showed debris flying from the storm. It appeared to be pieces of building material, in addition to trees, shrubs, and other plants.
There have been reports of large tree limbs or trees down because of the tornado as well.
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