Under a cloak of darkness at midnight on March 26, Newnan and other areas in Coweta County, Georgia, were hit by a devastating tornado packing 170-mile-per-hour winds. The tornado traveled thirty-nine miles in fifty-three minutes and was a mile wide.
The powerful winds ripped away the roofs of homes over a hundred years old, and trees from their roots. West Newnan was hit particularly hard, but the historic and quaint downtown was largely spared. Newnan High School was severely damaged.
The fury and abruptness of the tornado momentarily paralyzed the city of forty-five thousand situated forty miles southwest of Atlanta.
When Tommy learned of the tornado, he called his parents later that morning. They told him they were safe; the family house was slightly damaged but still standing. Stil
