The Sumter Tornado: Their Hospital in Ruins, Georgia Hospitalists Aid
The Sumter Tornado: Their Hospital in Ruins, Georgia Hospitalists Aid
On the evening of March 1, severe thunderstorms rumbled over southwestern Georgia, spawning a tornado that ripped through seven counties. Classified an EF 3 with winds ranging from approximately 136 to 165 miles per hour, the twister tore a path of destruction 37 miles long and as much as a mile wide, reaching its maximum strength and width as it reached Americus, the seat of Sumter county. Along the way, the Sumter tornado--part of a storm system that killed eight in a high school in Enterprise, Ala.--demolished or seriously damaged more than 200 homes and dozens of businesses in Americus and the surrounding area, causing two deaths and many more injuries.
Not only did it leave the local Winn-Dixie grocery store without its facade, but it also reduced a 1,600-foot-tall public television tower to a 150-foot stump, sheared the tops off trees, downed power lines, knocked out telephone service, and deposited a burning tractor in the middle of Highway 520.
More important, it destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, a rural city of 17,000 residents. Thanks to Sumter Regional's staff, including its four hospitalists, all 70 patients were evacuated from the 265,000-square-foot, 143-bed complex.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 1.
Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, Ga., was caught in the path of a tornado March 1 that devastated the 265,000-square-foot, 143-bed complex. Seventy patients were safely evacuated.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 2.
Top left: A piece of wood was thrust through a wall at Sumter Regional Hospital during the March 1 tornado. The facility´s staff, including four hospitalists, helped the Red Cross set up an emergency response center in the First Baptist Church of Americus and an urgent-care center made up of tents provided by FEMA.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 3.
Hospitalist Mukesh Kumar, MD, who had joined Sumter Regional two weeks before the storm, rode out the weather in the hospitalists´ office--a small space on the same corridor with a number of patient rooms. Reconstructing the hospital will be costly, with damage estimated at more than $100 million.
Introduction
On the evening of March 1, severe thunderstorms rumbled over southwestern Georgia, spawning a tornado that ripped through seven counties. Classified an EF 3 with winds ranging from approximately 136 to 165 miles per hour, the twister tore a path of destruction 37 miles long and as much as a mile wide, reaching its maximum strength and width as it reached Americus, the seat of Sumter county. Along the way, the Sumter tornado--part of a storm system that killed eight in a high school in Enterprise, Ala.--demolished or seriously damaged more than 200 homes and dozens of businesses in Americus and the surrounding area, causing two deaths and many more injuries.
Not only did it leave the local Winn-Dixie grocery store without its facade, but it also reduced a 1,600-foot-tall public television tower to a 150-foot stump, sheared the tops off trees, downed power lines, knocked out telephone service, and deposited a burning tractor in the middle of Highway 520.
More important, it destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, a rural city of 17,000 residents. Thanks to Sumter Regional's staff, including its four hospitalists, all 70 patients were evacuated from the 265,000-square-foot, 143-bed complex.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 1.
Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, Ga., was caught in the path of a tornado March 1 that devastated the 265,000-square-foot, 143-bed complex. Seventy patients were safely evacuated.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 2.
Top left: A piece of wood was thrust through a wall at Sumter Regional Hospital during the March 1 tornado. The facility´s staff, including four hospitalists, helped the Red Cross set up an emergency response center in the First Baptist Church of Americus and an urgent-care center made up of tents provided by FEMA.
(Enlarge Image)
Figure 3.
Hospitalist Mukesh Kumar, MD, who had joined Sumter Regional two weeks before the storm, rode out the weather in the hospitalists´ office--a small space on the same corridor with a number of patient rooms. Reconstructing the hospital will be costly, with damage estimated at more than $100 million.
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