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'It blocks our whole backyard': Macon neighborhood remembers tornado a year later

Last year, 18 tornadoes swept through central Georgia. An EF-1 touched down in Macon.

MACON, Ga. — One year ago, Central Georgia experienced down powerlines, trees, and debris from 18 tornadoes. In Macon, one neighborhood saw the sky go gray and felt their homes shaking.

Surojit Ojha and Robert Fetterman-Ojha moved to Macon in 2018. Surojit was outside in the backyard with a friend, and Robert was inside. 

"We heard the tornado sign. The sound of it, the warning sound. I never heard of it before so I didn't know what to do," Ojha said. 

Ojha has heard of severe weather situations before but never experienced one. 

He told 13WMAZ, four large trees fell over in their backyard but away from their home. One of the trees barely missing their home and lying in the driveway. Fetterman-Ojha says his car was missed too.

"The branch was right up against the driver's side door but I was able to pull the car out and it would have been literally crushed," Fetterman-Ojha said. 

Two doors down, trees fell on the home and making it unlivable. Fetterman-Ojha says luckily no one was home at the time but after the storm, they did see workers clean up the home. 

"But every once in a while we'll see a dumpster over there and I think they've pretty much gutted the house," Fetterman-Ojha said.

Across the street from the Ojha's, Nancy and Pete Kurzen heard the sirens and took their dog to the basement. 

"What's interesting is we had three trees that drop but our house wasn't damaged at all and our big oak there wasn't touched," Pete Kurzen said. 

He and his wife have lived in Macon for 43 years. They saw the whole ordeal as thrilling. They felt their home shake and glass breaking but something that felt like lasted five seconds left a lot of cleanups.

"After the storm, we took out 5 pines in the back. We took out a quarter million pines out of this property," Pete Kurzen said.

The Ojha's hope to keep the tree but have contacted different contractors and tree companies about getting the tree out of their driveway. They told 13WMAZ they never received FEMA funds to clean up their home and insurance helped them with their damages. 

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