It wasn't supposed to happen -- not like this.

Swarms of tornadoes threw cars and blasted apart homes and neighborhoods. The violence of wave after wave of storms surprised even the veteran meteorologists who, for days, had been sounding warnings about the weather's potential for disaster.

But who could have fathomed the intensity of the super tornado outbreak one year ago today, April 27, 2011?

Who could have imagined that 316 people would die -- 81 in the Chattanooga region? And who could have predicted the $5.5 billion in damage just in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, including the collapse of huge electrical power towers, cutting off electricity to much of the region.

[link to www.timesfreepress.com]