MACON, Ga. — April 27, 2011, is a date that many people living in the southeastern United States will never forget.
On that day, a severe storm system produced a deadly tornado outbreak that devastated Alabama and also caused widespread destruction and deaths in Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia.
There was one tornado warning after another and it lasted for hours. Weather forecasters knew the storms were coming, but many of the tornadoes were so intense and on the ground for so long that lives were lost.
On April 27 alone, more than 200 tornadoes struck the South leaving about 300 people dead. A significant majority of the fatalities were in Alabama, where EF4 and EF5 tornadoes struck in highly populated areas, like Tuscaloosa.
In Georgia, 14 people lost their lives. Half of those were in Catoosa County and the county seat of Ringgold.
Authorities said the tornadoes caused some buildings to collapse, and one of them appeared to be on the ground for at least a mile. It was the last EF4 tornado in the state until Newnan was hit in March 2021.
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Former Gov. Nathan Deal flew over the damage and declared a state of emergency in more than a dozen counties and cities, including Barnesville, where Ellen and Paul Gunter were killed.
The couple was survived by their 10-year-old adopted daughter and 98-year-old father -- both were hospitalized.
Paul Gunter's sister-in-law, Lynn, said her husband and their grandson braved the storm, which demolished their two-story home. A few other family members on the 10-acre land suffered injuries.
Dan Darbe with the National Weather Service surveyed the track of the storm, which blew three semi-trucks off the road and destroyed at least one home. He estimated the tornado was about half a mile wide, and was on the ground for about an hour.
In neighboring Spalding County, two people were killed. The storms heavily damaged the post office, leveled a gas station, and destroyed an RV business.
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