TROUP COUNTY, Ga. (WRBL)— Recovery efforts are underway in Troup County following the fourth tornado to hit the area since the beginning of the year. With wind peaks recorded at 150 miles per hour, several areas were impacted, including the Wild Animal Safari Park in Pine Mountain.

“There’s not a single exhibit that was untouched,” Zoo Director Katie Harrison said. “This was one of those things that a zoo director or even a zookeeper, we have nightmares about things like this.”

In just 30 minutes Sunday morning, an EF3 tornado tore through Troup and Meriwether Counties. In the 22 miles of destruction lies the Wild Animal Safari Park. While most of the animals remained unharmed, there were a few injured, and fewer killed.

“We did have five casualties,” Harrison confirmed.

Out of 550 total animals, only 10 were superficially injured, all have been checked out by Zoo Atlanta’s head veterinarian.

With thousands of trees uprooted, fences down, and habitats taken out of commission, the park was forced to close temporarily. Several animals were taken to their Missouri park while their habitats are being repaired.

“We’re still assessing the damage, but we’re trying to rebuild. It’s going to take a long time to rebuild all of our animal exhibits,” Harrison said.

Next week is Troup County’s spring break, a week that typically brings in a record number of visitors.

“That is literally our biggest week out of the whole year, every year,” Harrison said. “So, we are taking a hard hit there. But we got to do what we got to do to keep the public and animals safe. That’s our top priority.”

Two of their tigers briefly escaped during the tornado; however, they never left the property, and both were recovered and safely placed into their temporary habitat. Their original habitat is just one of the items on the list to repair as their team works to re-open their doors.

“We’re looking at opening the drive-thru first and then we’re going to hopefully open part of our walkabout section and after that the rest of the walkabout,” Harrison said. “But right now, our priority is just getting all the animals where they need to be and just making sure that everybody’s taken care of.”

Folks at the Wild Animal Safari Park hope to partially open sometime early April. To open the drive-thru attraction, $20,000 worth of rocks are being brought in to fortify the road for visitors to travel on as erosion is now the parks next concern.

Prior to the tornado, the park was planning on bringing in lemurs and a new camel; however, those transports have been put on hold for the time being. WRBL will update you when the park opens in its various stages.