The areas hit worst in our area were Apison, TN and Ringgold, GA which are really suburbs of Chattanooga now..so needless to say, I have a lot of friends living in that area.
Wednesday of this week, was the day when we were visited by around 5 storms althrough the day..one storm worse than the other. By evening, the third storm hit with hail, strong winds (around 80 mph) and torried rain. It got a bit nerve wrecking, when a circular cloud was sighted to come right at Cagle Mountain where I live and even I got ready to jump in the closet to take cover in case I hear the treaded train sound (which usually announces a Tornado is right upon you). I spent most of the storm at the window (worst thing you can do) watching my stupid pups who had nothing better to do than to sit the storm out..instead of going inside their dog houses. The wind was blowing so hard that it blew the rain water away and for a while my property looked like the raging sea.
By the time, this part of the storm was over for me, it hit Chattanooga (one hour south of me) and thru Facebook updates I was able to see that Chattanooga and Ringgold would be hit hard again...then the power went out at my house and it became really scary. All I could hear was the torrid rain again, the wind..and see the ligthening which seem to hit us at 60 ligthening strikes a minute...I literally did not need any light in the dark as the storm lit up my house very "nicely". It was so strong that I felt like I was struck by ligthening every time another one showed up. The storm eventually stopped..but it took another 4 hours before I got my power back, which was actually a short time. My parents, down in the valley, did not get their power back until yesterday about 48 hours after they lost power..and several people we know still not have their power back.
The next day, Thursday, was the day we all had look for any damage and casualities. As hard as it is to believe, I did not have any damage..not even one tree was down.....when I realized that my property had been spared once again, my knees buckled.
Unfortuntely, Ringgold and Apison were not spared...as of today over 70 people lost their lives during the storms, countless homes and businesses are destroyed...you can say that the wider area of Chattanooga is a war zone. I have several friends who are living in the areas affected the most, and my heart breaks for them. It was a frantic search all thru Thursday to see if we can account for everybody..and I am so happy to say, that all of my friends came out unhurt..although not all came out unscatched. Several have damage done to their homes, or know of somebody who did not survive the storms. Our area was officially hit by F4 and F5 Tornados..and it has been the worst storm ever to hit our area.
Officially, no Tornado hit Dunlap, the little town I live close by, however, as I drove around today, I have to believe a small Tornado hit our small town as well, as the damage is just too much like Tornado damage (usually in a line and kind of random). My parents had a tree fall on their fence but it did not hit their house, so again...so thankful we were all spared.
Since you may have seen pictures of the worst damage on TV, and since I won't go to Chattanooga until all roads are open again, I thought I share a few pictures of what Dunlap looks like. I was told that on Thursday, it looked much worse, but we have an awesome community that comes together in time of need and lot of the damage is already removed.
Sign for local announcements was blown over
Tree falling on top of my parents fence
Tree fell down right in front of my parents house and blocks part of the road off. A lot of trees are down further up the road behind the red truck
All that is left is the stump of an old tree
Tree uprooted and toppled on a house
Cleaning up the damage
Maureen 
Thank God you're doing fine. 
I watched those terrible news, thinking of you and your family.
