February 5, 2008 will long be remembered for the violent storms spread throughout Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky. Some of the worst damage occurred in Hardin County. The area of Cerro Gordo was where a tornado seems to have touched down and followed the river on to the Cravens Road area in Savannah. The picture above shows what used to be Pitts General Store in Cerro Gordo. Although it had been closed for many years, at one time it provided the area with everything from guns and ammo to tack and carriages and was considered to be a very historical part of Hardin County. If you look carefully at the left-hand side of the picture, you can see a man taking a picture of the building with his cell phone - which gives you some idea of how large the store actually was.

There were several houses in the Cravens Road area that were completely destroyed. One house in that same area wound up with a boat inside the house. That boat was parked at another house that was perhaps 300 yards away. Sharon Baptist and their school, Savannah Christian Academy were both hit by the storm. Both were located on Cravens Road and both were completely demolished.

According to the latest figures, 210 structures were damaged during the storm, 176 of which were houses - and 59 of those houses were completely destroyed. The dollar figure attached to the destruction is, at a minimum, 17.5 million. Sadly, three Hardin Countians lost their lives during the storm. The hearts of everyone go out to the families of these people and to the families of the other 52 people that lost their lives due to the storms.