LOCUST GROVE, Ga. — It's now been one month since tornadoes touched down across the 11Alive viewing area. They left a wide swath of damage in their wake, and many people are still trying to pick their lives back up. That includes a Henry County family with no place to live as of Sunday.
The Page family includes a husband and wife, eight kids in elementary and middle school, a grandchild, and an adult son. They said their landlord only gave them a week to move out, all the local shelters are full, and FEMA assistance is still processing.
“It hit us bad. It hit us really bad," Marshall Page said.
You can tell something really bad happened looking at the entrance to Indian Creek Mobile Home Community in Locust Grove with piles of trees almost six feet tall.
“It’s the most terrifying thing I ever witnessed in my life," Page said.
Page and his family were inside their mobile home when a tornado tore through the neighborhood on January 12.
“I woke up to the whole trailer moving, rocking back and forth," Page said. "You heard the trees crackling, falling apart, and hitting the top of the roof. When I came in, I heard the kids screaming and crying.”
The family then saw the aftermath inside the home.
“This is the girls’ room. The tree came through this hole and this hole, and it came through the closet also," Page said.
The boys' room and the outside of the mobile home also had damage.
“There’s a live wire here, but they mounted it up and cut the lights off," Page said. "This is the tree that actually came off the top of the roof. They chopped it up, but still, it was massive, and that tree also came down.”
The family then got more bad news.
"They told us the property is unlivable to live in,” Page said.
They packed their belongings in a moving truck Sunday.
“We’ve got to move also," Page said. "They gave us seven days. We don’t have anywhere to go.”
Trevin Jenkins lived in the mobile home with his young child.
“It makes me so angry. Like thinking about it because we tried to pay for February so we could have more time. No, you don't want to take February's rent. Okay, well, can you at least turn the water back on? The kids got to at least take a shower," Jenkins said.
Page said the family will have to pay more than $500 a week for hotel rooms due to delays with FEMA disaster assistance.
“They told us it would be two weeks to process the situation, but we’re still waiting," Page said.
“It’s very frustrating and terrifying. For people to treat you like this after you’ve been through this, it isn’t right. It’s not right. I’m trying to be strong for my kids because they are terrified," Katrina Page said.
11Alive reached out to the family's landlord Sunday, but we did not receive a response by our deadline. Lynn Granata, regional manager for Indian Creek Mobile Home Park in Locust Grove, sent 11Alive News this statement on Monday:
"The Lessee was notified on January 24th that the rental home she and the 3 children resided in was deemed to be “not habitable” by our insurance carrier (after he thoroughly inspected the home) and that the home needed to be demolished. We gave notice to the Lessee she had until January 31st to remove all the personal belongings from the home (7 days). When the Lessee emailed me stating she was unable to move out of the home by January 31st, I extended her deadline until February 6th. All the while, she and the three small children were living in the irreparably damaged rental home. The Lessee then called the manager of Indian Creek (on February 6th) and the manager extended her deadline until February 12th to move out their personal belongings. The home is to be demolished in the next several days.
I don’t know who Marshall Page is. He is NOT on the lease as the Lessee or an occupant of the home. I know of three children and 1 adult who are authorized to be living in the home. Certainly not twelve people!
On January 12th there was a catastrophic weather event in Locust Grove that severely and irreparably impacted 24 homes in the community. ALL those residents were displaced. They all left by or before January 31st. FEMA was in the community clubhouse for two weeks after the storm. They were located at the Recreation Center in Locust Grove and they also set up in the Indian Creek clubhouse. Many, many residents took advantage of their presence in the community."
FEMA representative Carmen Rodriguez encourages the family to go to the Locust Grove Recreation Center, where FEMA is operating a disaster assistance program, to move the process along.
The family has started an online fundraiser as they rebuild the pieces of their lives.