Good evening everyone!
I went into some of the hardest hit areas Friday for the first time when delivering items to several churches in the area for the victims. It is like a bomb went off. Such utter and total destruction. The photos online and on news channels cant begin to show how horrible it truly is. The weather people said it was a F-3 tornado with winds of 150 MPH. The tornado that hit Albany was a mile and a half wide and went on for over 70 miles damaging five counties. Another victim from Albany has died (Pat Gohman-77 years of age) who sustained severe head trauma when a tree fell on her home.
When we were at the different churches rumors were flying about the two year old missing child. I couldn't find one person who doesn't think something is off and they said they have thought that since the very beginning. In today's time I don't know of one person who doesn't have photos of their little child yet the police made sure to state there are NO photos of this little boy. That is why there has been no photos of him and they were hoping if they had his photo someone would have remembered seeing him. Even if the parents phones were lost surely he has other family like grandparents/aunts who would have photos of him. I have even been thinking again about the 6 hour delay in reporting him missing and that still bothers me too. The parents were right there in the MHP when the first responders arrived so them saying they had no power in order to call LE makes no sense to me since they were physically there in person and would be able to make verbal contact with the first responders who were there shortly after the tornado was over. Also one of the first responders told us they saw this boy's father taking photos with his smartphone of them searching for his child. So why isn't there photos on his smartphone of his little boy?
I have a sad sinking feeling he will never be found because I am not even convinced he was 'swept away.' I am glad though his case has been turned over to the Dougherty County PD.
Its just in terrible times like this some try to do scams hoping
accounts will be setup. We are already having some scammers who are taking the items given to them by the community and are selling them on the street instead. One lady told us her home was damaged in the first storm back on the 2nd and she has tried to have someone stay there at home when she is out but the other day she couldn't find anyone to house sit She said she left for two hours last week to take items to the tornado victims and when she returned her house it had been ransacked and her large tv and computer was stolen. Plus there are many posing as licensed contractors who are really con artists. The police is trying to stay on top of it the best they can but there is such an overwhelming need for them that people are making the mistake of going with the first one who says they can do the work right then.
Another thing that is odd about the little missing boy is other than his parents no one from the community that I have seen has come out and said they know the little boy and saw him often at the MHP.
I did figure the cadaver dog alert would be a false positive due to all of the raw sewage in the area he supposedly went missing from.
I just hope and pray the police can get to the bottom of it and find the little boy one way or the other. Its heartbreaking to even think about but its reality. If he was in the debris field area the first thing the police would look for is vultures circling in the area over a particular spot. Evidently there has been no congregation of buzzards in this area. The search and recovery helicopter pilots who have flown over these areas numerous times looking for him were also looking for any sightings of vultures circling. It is even a better indicator of something or someone who is deceased than the cadaver dogs since they were having to work in a terrible environment that often it becomes confusing for them.
Please continue to pray for our communities. It will take us years in some areas to ever overcome this. Of course many in the south are superstitious and believe things come in threes. Hopefully that will not come true in this instance because I don't think these areas would ever overcome if another tornado like this one hit this spring or summer which is really our peak time for tornadoes.
Nilo Plantation owned by Olin Industries owns a huge plantation in Doughtery County and they have over 1000 acres of pines which were brought down by the tornado.
The Marine Base have had federal contracting crews from many states which have come in to restore power and some of the personnel, both civilian and military, will be able to return to work on Monday. They are going to bring in temporary buildings until the others can be built back.
