ADEL, Ga. (WTXL) -- As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months, and the months turn into years, there is the danger of some forgetting what happened early on the morning of January 22nd, 2017.
It has been two years since the EF-3 tornado struck the counties of Brooks, Cook, and Berrien. And even though the memory may have faded for some, it's likely that the memories won't ever fully go away for those who experienced that horrible storm.
"It [the damage] was strictly delineated", said Russell Acree, Co-owner of Sunshine Acres Park, "We had this home sitting here completely destroyed, this home sitting here with just a little bit of wind damage done. And you could see the line, the path it [the tornado] took through the mobile home park."
It is 2019, and while some debris from the storms are still visible, once damaged crops and vegetation are growing again, but some of those people who were displaced simply never returned to the area.
"They moved to other communities", said Lamar Ray, Emergency Manager of Cook County," [They] moved out of the trailer park and found them other places. Most of them were renters."
For those that stayed behind, they’re more "Weather Aware" now and have ways to keep themselves safe. "I think more people are aware that it can happen to our community again", Ray said, "I think the response would be a lot better than what we had then."
"People are more attuned to listening to weather alerts", added Acree, "If bad weather is coming, I think we have people now going to stay with other relatives or friends who have safer homes."
And for many counties, there are ways to get alerts ahead of dangerous weather. "What we urge our citizens to consider is our CODE RED [alerts], which is our notification for our county and to make sure they are signed up for it so they do get the weather alerts."
Receiving warnings will help, especially with more people paying closer attention to those alerts. That may save lives in the future.
