Inside new Newnan High School 5 years after tornado destruction

NEWNAN, Ga. - Five years ago Thursday morning, daylight revealed the devastation left behind by a 170-mile-per-hour EF-4 tornado that forever changed the landscape of Newnan. The tornado cut across the entirety of Coweta County just after midnight on March 26, 2021, staying on the ground for 53 minutes. 

From ruins to 'Newnan Strong'

The backstory:

The tornado was a Category EF-4 with wind speeds reaching 170 mph. It damaged more than 1,700 homes and completely destroyed 70. The storm's path stretched nearly 40 miles across Georgia. Despite the scale of the "war zone" found by responders, the final death toll from the direct impact of the storm was zero.

The storm leveled entire neighborhoods and left the original Newnan High School in ruins, forcing the building to be torn down and rebuilt. Today, a new high school has opened its doors to students on that same site. First responders and school officials described the night as a scene they were never prepared for. 

"Nothing in my life prepared me for what I saw coming across that bridge. You know, your mind tells you one thing. You know, oh, we're gonna have a little damage. But when you cross that bridge… I thought, oh, boy," said Coweta County Schools Superintendent Dr. Evan Horton. Lieutenant Rodney Scott of Coweta County Fire Rescue recalled the immediate chaos: "The alarm went off, and we knew that was a real tornado... We immediately got dressed. And as soon as we went out to assess the situation, we got massive trees down, power lines down."

Rebuilding Newnan High School

Timeline:

It took nearly five years for the school to fully rebuild: 

• March 25–26, 2021: An EF-4 tornado strikes Coweta County shortly after midnight.
• March 26–28, 2021: Officials spend two days accounting for every student and staff member to ensure everyone is safe.
• 2021-2024: Students experience the combined challenges of a pandemic and the loss of their physical school building.
• 2024: The freshman class from the 2021 school year graduates.
• March 2026: A new, reinforced Newnan High School welcomes students five years after the disaster.

Built to withstand the storm

Local perspective:

The new Newnan High School features 21st-century safety realities that were missing from the 1950s-era building it replaced. A section of the new school is built underground with extra reinforcement and special tornado doors. Dr. Evan Horton confirmed that every single student and staff member can now fit into this reinforced space. The ceilings were engineered to hold the weight of the building even if the top two floors were to collapse.

The history of the storm is now etched into a timeline on the walls of the new school, which originally dates back to 1880. As the community moves forward, the "Newnan Strong" spirit remains a central theme for the first responders and residents who rebuilt the town.

What we don't know:

While the new school is operational, specific details regarding the final total cost of the multi-year reconstruction project for the entire campus were not provided.