Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said seven people were killed at Ringgold. Later the body of an eighth person was found in Ringgold. And Stan Clark of Bradley County Emergency Services said nine died in the south end of the county when a powerful storm hit about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. An additional 89 people were injured in Bradley County.
Two of the Ringgold deaths were in the business district at Georgia 151 near I-75, and six were on Cherokee Valley Road, just east of downtown Ringgold. Officials said 30 people were taken to the hospital with injuries. Some 150 are were at a shelter at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School.
Some people were still missing in Ringgold on Thursday morning.
Roads to the town - the county seat of Catooosa County - were closed. Officials said there had been some looting and there were still dangers from downed power lines and leaking gas lines.
The Ringgold McDonald's was shredded and Ruby Tuesday, a Shell service station, Hardee's Waffle House, Pizza Hut and Chow Time were reported to be heavily damaged. Numerous commercial buildings were destroyed in Ringgold. There was major damage to Ringgold High School and Ringgold Middle School.
Governor Nathan Deal toured both Trenton and Ringgold and held a late-morning press conference in Ringgold. He said 13 counties in the state were hit by devastating storms.
In Bradley County, Mr. Clark said those killed included some children. He said many of the injured were initially taken to Skyridge Medical Center and some went on to Erlanger Hospital. He said two were airlifted to UT Medical Center in Knoxville.
He said the tornado traveled for 20 miles through the county while cutting a wide swath of devastation. It was centered along U.S. 64 - the route that leads to Ocoee - in the vicinity of Leadmine Valley and Blue Springs.
Mr. Clark said two of the nine deaths may be medically related including a man who was found dead in his pickup truck with no visible trauma and a patient on oxygen whose oxygen supply was cut off when the power was lost.
He said among the businesses hit was A.J.'s Market, a convenience store on Dalton Pike. He said, "It is completely gone."
He said search teams continue to go house to house to search for more dead and injured.
Mr. Clark said the initial hit in Bradley County on Wednesday morning on Mt. Zion Road in Georgetown left one man injured. He said there was a second storm on Freewill Road. He said the major damage and "mass devastation" came with the 8:30 p.m. storm.
Emergency crews in Catoosa County worked frantically Wednesday evening after the three-story Super 8 motel on Alabama Highway collapsed when a tornado struck the area around the Ringgold exit off I-75 at 8:45 p.m.
More than 100 people were evacuated from the hotel, emergency personnel reported, and a triage center was set up to care for them and other refugees from the storm.
Both Williams Street, near the high school, and Cherokee Valley Road suffered heavy damage.
“The Georgia Emergency Management Agency reports that two people have died and two other injuries have been reported in Catoosa County . . . (and) 12 buildings in Ringgold collapsed . . . authorities were trying to get to a 4-month-old who was dependent on life support equipment but was in danger because there was no electricity to run the machine . . .,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported late Wednesday.
Other updates provided throughout the evening and early-morning hours by the Journal-Constitution included:
* “7 p.m.: According to Walker County Fire and Emergency Rescue chief Randy Camp, Walker County Emergency Services is ‘overwhelmed’ with the damage that multiple tornadoes and heavy winds have brought the county . . . Flintstone in north Walker County has been hit the hardest with the most damage . . . Camp said no major injuries have been reported on the citizens who have been rescued from the damaged residences.”
* “9:37 p.m.: Whitfield County EMS has received reports of damaged cars and 'tossed' tractor trailers near the Ringgold exit off I-75 in Catoosa County.”
* “9:49 p.m: Whitfield County 911 confirms they are sending ‘mutual aid’ crews to neighboring Catoosa County to help rescue people who have been trapped under collapsed restaurants – McDonald's, Taco Bell and others – that are along Ga. 155, the main road through Ringgold.”
* “9:52 p.m.: Walker County EMS reports 50 damaged houses, including 30 that have been destroyed, in the Eagle Landing area near Flintstone. There are some minor injuries.”
* “9:58 p.m.: The Ringgold Waffle House, Krystal, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s were damaged, and the McDonald’s and Taco Bell were ‘wiped out,’ according to the EMS in Whitfield County, which is handling calls for Catoosa.”
* “1:20 a.m.: The Georgia Emergency Management Agency tweets that there are seven confirmed fatalities in Catoosa County.”
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses and people listening to rescue crews on scanners posted dozens of accounts on social networking sites confirming the heavy damage.
“Female with a possible amputation on Cherokee Valley Road . . . Someone trying to . . . rescue, but can't access,” somebody listening to a scanner reported.
“You can hear them on the scanner - LEA, EMS and fire are frustrated at not being able to get into the hard hit areas. Scanner had two deputies leaving their cars and going in on foot,” another wrote a little while later.
“My brother was at Hardees on Ala Hwy right before the real bad stuff hit. He said he watched the McDonald’s sign get blown to bits. Talk about ‘whew, that was a close one.’ Yikes,” a third entry noted.
According to the newspaper in Catoosa County, which also posted updates throughout the evening. “Almost every business on Ga. 151 (Alabama Highway) in Ringgold from the I-75 overpass to US 41, a distance of about a half mile, is destroyed or heavily damaged.”
“Catoosa County schools will be closed Thursday and Friday,” an update at 11:35 p.m. said. “There has been significant damage to Ringgold High School and Ringgold Middle School. At Ringgold High, the art building has collapsed, and the field house is heavily damaged. The field press box now sits in the school parking lot. At Ringgold Middle, a wing is missing.”