CLERMONT – The memory of an unusually warm spring morning two decades ago and the devastation that accompanied it are memories still fresh in the psyche of many Clermont area residents.
Nearly one hundred people sat reverently quiet in the Clermont Chattahoochee Center Saturday morning as Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch, former Hall County Sheriff Steve Cronic and former Hall County Fire Marshall Scott Cagle recounted the fatal daybreak storm that destroyed homes, toppled school buildings, uprooted trees and changed lives forever.
The annual remembrance of the “Tornado of ’36” that flattened downtown Gainesville now has a sibling: the remembrance of the Tornado of 1998 that leveled sections of northern Hall County.
The sounds and sights of March 20, 1998, were recounted by half-a-dozen audience members as a hand-held microphone was passed around. They told their stories as if they happened this week, each sharing tears and details of the fateful morning.
“I want to especially welcome all the family members and friends that lost their lives during that tornado,” Clermont Mayor James Nix said to begin the memorial ceremony.
Sheriff Couch is an alumnus of North Hall High School (severely damaged by the tornado) and has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1981. He said, “I’ve experienced a great many things… but I don’t know of anything that was more horrific and troubling than the storm we had come through then.”
“This was prior to “9-11” (the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC), and for those first responders in the room we all know that after “9-11” we (now have) national guidelines that established how we respond to storms and incidents of this nature. We didn’t have any of that; that was before a time of unified command,” Couch added.
He said rescue workers and investigators had to learn as they went. “We did the best we could with what we had; we all pulled together that day.”
Former-Sheriff Cronic read the names of the thirteen victims of the tornado, names that are inscribed on a monument in Chattahoochee Park.
Cagle also attended North Hall High School and after leaving his job as Hall County Fire Marshall joined the Department of Juvenile Justice. He additionally serves as Chaplain of EMAG, the Emergency Management Agency of Georgia.
Cagle said, “We have come a long, long way in terms of preparedness in Hall County.”
Cagle then challenged those in the room to use the anniversary of the tornado to “make a difference”.
“I will be so bold to challenge the Clermont City (sic) Council, moving forward…this day needs to be, in my opinion, a day of service.”
“Maybe we clean the park on March 20th every year, and we do it in the names of those we just heard; we go to a neighbor’s house and we clear out her yard for her because she can’t do it; or we go and we feed somebody or we take them groceries because they’re down on their luck right now.”
“So how do we honor and remember those who we lost?” Cagle asked. “We serve others.”
