‘We made it’: Screven County family cleans up after tornadoes

by Steven Glover

SCREVEN COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - “Thank you, Jesus. We made it,” Dennis Gant said after two tornadoes touched down in Screven County over the weekend.

The National Weather Service confirmed one tornado near Halcyondale and another northwest of Newington on Saturday. Preliminary reports cited downed trees and power poles in the county.

Gant said he had no idea the second tornado was approaching until his grandchildren warned him the wind was picking up. He gathered his family inside for shelter.

“I went to close the front door, but the wind snatched the front door open and it scared me,” Gant said. “I literally had to muscle the door closed because the pressure from the wind was trying to snatch the door back open. And you can feel the house trembling like it was about to lift off the ground.”

Gant said the house shook as the wind roared through the area.

“The house went a-trembling and you can hear like this big roar, like a train roar,” he said.

After the tornado passed, Gant stepped outside to find broken limbs and debris scattered across his yard. Part of the roof needs repair, but he said his family’s safety mattered most.

“Thank you, Jesus. We made it. We made it. Because a lot of people don’t, and we were fortunate that we made it through it. Everything else don’t matter, we got our lives,” Gant said.

Gant urges people to prepare for severe weather and take shelter when storms approach.

“Expect the unexpected,” he said. “It could’ve got us if we were outside, you know, when the kids were outside or something. But unfortunately, we got by. We got by.”