Photos: Newnan family loses home and school to tornado

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The Mitchell family of Newnan was doubly impacted by an EF4 tonado, which destroyed their new home and damaged their daughter's elementary school in March. Now the family is rebuilding as they live in a hotel. Their daughter attends classes at a technical college campus while her school is repaired.

Brittany Mitchell, 30, stands in the midst of damage from an EF4 tornado that ripped through her neighborhood in March and damaged her family’s Newnan home. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Brittany Mitchell points out the damage her house sustained from the tornado. The family had lived in the newly built home for almost a year. Although the house is still standing, the damage created by the tornado, which warped the house from its foundation, has caused them to rebuild from the ground up. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Brittany Mitchell shows where the ceiling caved in within her master bedroom. Brittany was crouched in a hallway closet, using her body to shelter her daughters alongside her husband, when a tornado damaged their home. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

The kids' trampoline in Brittany Mitchell's yard was left as a warped heap of metal after the tornado ripped through the neighborhood. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Homes in Brittany Mitchell's neighborhood suffered missing siding, damaged roofs and busted windows. The EF4 tornado, which tore through Heard, Coweta and Fayette counties, packed 170 m.p.h. winds and left more than 1,7000 houses damaged. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Brittany Mitchell becomes emotional as she recounts her experience riding out the tornado at her residence in Newnan. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Edward Mitchell and his wife Brittany Mitchell, with their daughters Runyia McKiver, center and Brooklyn Mitchell, right, have lived in a series of hotels since the tornado left their house unlivable. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

A supportive card adds a homey touch to the Mitchell family’s hotel room in Newnan. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Runyia McKiver, right, helps her mother Brittany Mitchell clean up their hotel room in Newnan. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Brittany Mitchell, center, walks to the bus stop with her daughters, Brooklyn Mitchell, right and Runyia McKiver, left, outside of Home2 Suites in Newnan. Classes at the children's school, Atkinson Elementary School, were paused after the tornado damaged the school. West Georgia Technical College’s Coweta campus transformed their classrooms to allow the elementary school students to learn from their campus. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Atkinson Elementary School fourth-grader Runyia McKiver works on an assignment in her classroom at West Georgia Techinical College’s Coweta Campus in Newnan. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

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Brittany Mitchell, 30, stands in the midst of damage from an EF4 tornado that ripped through her neighborhood in March and damaged her family’s Newnan home. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

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Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com

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