Tyrone suffered what I believe to be the worst natural disaster in our history last Monday evening. Had my son not been driving up Ga. Highway 74 immediately after the tornado and called me, I would probably have been unaware of the tremendous damage that was done and the great efforts that took place that night.
As I looked for damage it became apparent that the tornado had literally bounced through our town, touching down near Bohannon and Kirkley roads, again at the Campbell residence on Hwy. 74 and yet again in the River Oaks development.
Emergency vehicles were already on site at the Kirkley and Campbell sites so I proceeded into River Oaks to see the extent of the damage there. I was in absolute shock at the extent of the damage. One-hundred-pound chunks of brick walls were blown around as if they were styrofoam, garage doors were molded into convex shapes from the pressure differential and large trees were strewn everywhere.
When I arrived, the area was secured by the Tyrone police and Fayette County EMS, led by Jack Krakeel and Pete Nelms, [who] were on site and setting up their command post. As a public official I had a lot of questions and these gentlemen had every answer.
My questions ranged from, “Has our town manager been notified?” to “Has the gas been turned off?” to “Can someone help our residents with emergency housing?” to “Who will determine if a residence can be occupied?”
Shortly after I arrived our Town Manager Barry Amos arrived, followed shortly thereafter by our Assistant Town Manager Valerie Fowler.
What transpired that night was a well-orchestrated and flawlessly executed emergency plan. I watched our citizens interact with EMS and town staff and I found that they were treated with great caring and compassion.

Several wanted to return to their homes to retrieve belongings before the houses could be inspected and balancing the safety of residents with their needs to retrieve a few personal items was deftly handled.

Lastly, in these situations sometimes everyone wants to be in charge and the result is that nothing gets done or things get done very slowly. There was none of that here. Everyone knew their role and and the protocol that needed to be followed. The result was the flawless execution of the plan.

I want to thank Jack Krakeel, Barry Amos, Pete Nelms, Valerie Fowler and the Tyrone Police Department for their efforts Monday night. I hope a situation like that never occurs again, but it is good to know how prepared we are if one does.

Michael J. Smola
Town Council, Post 1
Tyrone, Ga.