CHOCTAW COUNTY, Ala. (WTOK) – Residents in Choctaw County are trying to pick up the pieces after a strong storm hit near Toxey early Saturday morning.
“We’ve seen anything from minor structural damage all the way to homes demolished,” said Tyler Davidson, Choctaw County’s Emergency Management Director.
Emergency crews were out all day taking damage reports and helping those whose homes were damaged or destroyed.
“We’re dealing with mutual aid from other counties that are helping us during this time. We’re doing damage assessments with the ones that were affected,” said Davidson.
Davidson says the storm hit around 5 Saturday morning. It did the most significant damage on Chapel Hill Road.
“We received a phone call from the National Weather Service forecasters saying that they were seeing a lot of rotation with this particular storm. 10 or 15 minutes after that particular warning we started receiving numerous calls from numerous trees on the road, power outages, and a lot of structural damage,” explained Davidson.
Chapel Hill Baptist Church also suffered structural damage. The steeple was blown off the top of the church, as well as some shingles. Davidson says there were four reports of minor injuries, but with the damage they’re seeing, they’re just very fortunate no one was seriously hurt.
“We had a young couple that was thrown from a mobile home. They were very blessed that they received only minor injuries. It could have been a lot worse”
Homes were also damaged on Pleasant Hill Road south of Butler.
The National Weather Service will be in the area Sunday morning to assess the damage and determine how strong the twister might have been.
By Emily Paul | Posted: Sat 4:28 PM, Jan 21, 2017 | Updated: Sat 10:01 PM, Jan 21, 2017
