The tornado that came through Wednesday did not leave much of anything standing in its path, but friends, families and volunteers came together to help one another get through.

People in the hard hit areas including the Sonoraville and Farmville communities, among others, were cleaning up and collecting what was left on Thursday.

Nick Bunch and Stephen Whitfield were cleaning up their grandparent’s house on Highway 53 right around the Pleasantville Road area.

Whitfield is a Gordon County paramedic and was one of the first on the scene right after the tornado hit his grandparents house.

Bunch and Whitfield said their grandparent ran to the basement when the storm started to get bad, and their grandfather went to check and see how bad the storm was when he was blown back down into the basement.

When Whitfield showed up he was told there was no one in the house, but he saw his grandparent’s cars in the yard so he ran to the basement, where both of his grandparents were located.

Bunch said his grandfather had to dig his way out of the rubble that was on top of him, and he sustained a broken foot during the incident but overall he was doing okay.

The cars that were in the yard were parked in the garage before the storm hit, and when the tornado came through it ripped the garage apart and threw the cars away from the house. One of the vehicles was about 25 yards away from where the garage used to stand.

Bunch and Whitfield said the houses in that area were hit by a tornado last time they came through, and many of the people there had just finished with all the repairs on their houses.

“They (the grandparent) might have lost everything, but as long as they are okay that is all that matters,” Bunch said.

Sonoraville High School Principal Bruce Potts said Richard Cooper and Courtney Taylor asked if the school could be a contact point and they gladly accepted.

“This is our community, our kids and our families we have to pull together and help each other out in these times of devastation,” Potts said.

There were people from all over that came to help the families effected by these tornados. There were disaster relief programs and volunteers from Woodstock, Chickamauga and all over the Northwest Georgia area that extended a helping hand to people in the community.

“Verizon Wireless even came out to help with the communications,” Potts said.

He said the volunteers started showing up around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday and there were about 120 and most of them were high school students. As the day progressed there were roughly 500 volunteers looking to help any way they could.

Sonoraville served lunch to volunteers and anyone affected by the storms, and the school also provided assistance with shelter to anyone who was in need.

Glenn Bates was with the First Baptist Church disaster relief team out of Woodstock and they brought about 15 volunteers with them.

Bates said he knew some people in the area and heard people were in need of help, so they had “feet on the ground” Wednesday night.

“We plan on staying to help till about five or six tonight, or as long as authorities allow us,” Bates said.

He also said the team has been up to Gordon County a few times before to help with disaster relief after the past few tornados came through.

“We feel God is leading us to come up and serve, and we will do whatever it takes o help out as much as we can,” Bates said.