Roads Remain Closed In Rabun County, GA, Access Only By Boat After Tornado

The National Weather Service confirmed, the storm system that caused destruction in Alabama caused a tornado in north Georgia.

At least 14 people were killed, more than a hundred injured as the storm system passed through Georgia.

One person was killed in hard hit Rabun County, just over the Oconee Co., SC line.

The coroner's office says that 83-year-old Earl Patton, an Atlanta real estate developer, was killed.

The brunt of the damage was centered at Lake Burton, where News Channel crews have reported widespread damage there, and in the nearby town of Mountain City.

County officials in Rabun say 50 homes have been damaged and 30 destroyed. Officials say about 100 roads are closed in that area.

At Lake Burton, roads are still closed. The only way people who live here can get around is by boat. Some residents have been loading up what they can save from the storm as they have a chance to see the destruction.

The roof of a boat house is all that's above water, another boat house is obliterated, and the copper roof on a multi-million dollar home is ripped off.

Tony Taylor drives up to his home that's barely standing.

Taylor says, "These two walls is all that's there...that metal beam."

Taylor was in his living room when the tornado roared through. Taylor says, "All of a sudden I heard the debris hitting the metal roof, and I said it's about time. I got to about right here, and I heard the explosion, windows breaking and glass was gone."

He ran to get his 82 year old mother.

Taylor says, "We went into the middle bedroom and got down...and it was over. It had already passed us. It was just that quick."

What has time standing still now is the devastation the tornado left behind.

A man who lives a few houses from Taylor did not survive the storm.

Taylor says, "To realize we had a neighbor that didn't make it, brings it that much closer to home. It really hurts."

...Surveying the mile-long destruction to the Lake and seeing only a skeleton of his home makes him marvel at the fact he survived.

Taylor says, "We were saved. We were spared. That's for sure...could have just as easily been back in the woods with the debris."

The emergency management office in Rabun County, GA says the roads will be closed for at least two more days, so residents will continue to get around by boat to clean-up and rebuild.

Mountain City resident Thad Byers says, “It just sounded like a whole lot of wind and everything just a going around and around.”

The root base of a tree lifted the front part of Byers’ office off the ground, splitting his business in two.

Byers says, “It just picked up my office. That's what you see is on the corner you know.”

Another tree crushed the fence behind his home. At his next door neighbor's, the damage was worse.

Becky Wilkerson says, “I just hear something like the winds, and it sounded like a train fixing to come through.”

Wilkerson says she grabbed her five year old daughter and her two sons and headed for the hallway. Wilkerson says, “A big part of the tree come into my bedroom right across my bed. Luckily, me and my daughter got out just in time.”

Wilkerson’s mother's car was crushed by a tree. Wilkerson says, “Unbelievable, just never thought we'd go through something like this.”

In Lake Burton, massive lakefront homes are crushed to pieces. Many of the roads leading to the lake are impassable because trees and power lines are down. The only way to get to some of this destruction is by boat.

Byers says, “There's other parts of the country in a lot worse shape, but I think we're lucky. We could be dead.”

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency in 16 counties.