Tornado damages five homes

Published 11:46 am Friday, March 26, 2010

A tornado Thursday night in Clanton injured no one but damaged at least five homes, according to Kevin Laws, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, who helped conduct the official survey Friday morning.

The twister touched down at 7:59 p.m. Thursday and lifted back up at 8:05 p.m. Though it lasted a relatively short amount of time, the storm displayed its destructiveness.

The EF1 tornado packed winds of 95 miles per hour, dug a path 2.76 miles long and was 200 yards across at its widest point.

Touch down was near Littlejohn Road on property owned by David and Betty Maddox, where a 16-foot metal shed was completely blown away.

“We had the tractor chained to the shed, but the tractor’s still there–it broke the lock,” Betty Maddox said.

Pieces of the shed were found 1 1/2 miles away.

Just across the road, the winds ripped holes in the roof of Chris Parker’s house.

“Me and my little girl were there, and she just happened to hear the weather alarm go off,” Parker said. “I opened the front door and saw it coming across the field, and we went and got in the basement.”

Two more homes on Littlejohn Road were damaged, and several large trees were downed.

The tornado made its way east all the way across Yellowleaf Road, Laws said. Two more homes were damaged on Ware Avenue.

Just off Mt. Pleasant Road, a homeowner found the storm had blown away a trampoline and swing set.

“We have no idea where they are,” Laws said. “I looked all along the path, and they are nowhere to be found.”