Storm hit Lookout Mountain area with 80 to 90 mph winds; 20 injuries reported

The National Weather Service on Friday said damage centered on Lookout Mountain from Thursday’s thunderstorm that hit Gadsden and Etowah County was consistent with straight-line winds of 80 to 90 mph.

Twenty injuries were reported in the storm, according to city officials, but nothing serious or life-threatening.

An NWS crew surveyed the area on Friday and found the worst winds were concentrated along Tabor Road.

There was damage countywide, according to meteorologist Chris Darden, but Lookout Mountain fared the worst.

Alabama Power Co. crews, who according to Gadsden-Etowah County Emergency Management Agency officials worked through the night to restore service to the area, continued those efforts on Friday. The utility had 350 employees deployed, according to a news release from the city.

The storm that hit shortly after 2 p.m. — the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 2:04 — uprooted multiple trees on the mountain, causing damage to houses, impeding travel and disrupting the World’s Longest Yard Sale, which annually sets up in the area that was hardest hit.

Darden was on duty during the event and speculated earlier Friday that the survey would reveal straight-line winds because he didn’t see anything on radar consistent with a tornado.

EMA Director Derek Mummert said Friday morning that he didn’t have a count yet of houses impacted or trees down, but the damage was centered on Tabor Road, Argyle Place, Church Street and Agricola Drive. He said there were also reports of damage in Reece City.

Mummert said he “wasn’t a meteorologist” and refused to speculate about what the NWS might find in its survey, but noted that he didn’t see “any twisted trees” that would give indication of a tornado.

“But 50 mph straight-line winds can cause a lot of damage,” he added.

Darden said with so many soft trees like pines in the area, such winds — he initially thought it could be 70 to 80 mph winds — can easily bring them down, especially if there has been recent rain.

The injuries were noted by the NWS. John Moore, the city’s director of economic development and governmental affairs, who is the mayor’s office liaison to the EMA, said the victims were taken to the hospital with “broken arms, scrapes, bruises.” He wasn’t sure if they were area residents or people attending the yard sale.

Tabor Road was initially blocked and traffic detoured Thursday afternoon at Noccalula Parkway. It became “technically passable” Thursday evening, along with Fairview and Lay Springs roads, according to a Facebook post from Mayor Craig Ford.

However, Ford cautioned that side streets in the area were “still dangerous with lines down, leaning trees/poles/limbs and debris.” He warned against non-essential travel and asked yard sale vendors to defer to crews focusing “on recovery, power restoration and clean-up” as those efforts ramped up on Friday.

The southbound lane of Tabor Road will be barricaded, according to a news release from the city, to facilitate the cleanup.

More than 10,800 Etowah County residents and 5,700 Gadsden residents were without power, in the immediate aftermath of the storm, according to Alabama Power’s online outage map. Those numbers had dropped to 3,379 in the county and 1,543 in the city by 8 a.m. Friday.

The city opened Mitchell Community Center as a disaster resource center on Friday for residents in the area who were without power, allowing them to cool off and recharge their phone batteries. It has two buses available for those needing transportation there; call 256-543-3278.

Breakaway Ministries’ Megan Kelley Dream Center at 600 Black Creek Road in Alabama City also is open as a recovery center, and electrical power is also available at the Carver Community Center.

Police departments from Attalla, Glencoe and Rainbow City, the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office and Piedmont EMS are among the first responders providing mutual aid support to Gadsden, which Ford said had “hundreds of workers” deployed in response to the storm, the worst of several that have struck the city in the last month.

“Gadsden is once again under duress from the weather, but we will get through this,” Ford said. “I have deployed every resource possible from the city, and we have assistance available from multiple agencies. I ask for prayers from everyone who sees this message for the safety and security of our residents and visitors as storms continue to move through. Regardless, we won’t stop working to get past this.”

Those with photos or property damage reports are asked to email them to ema@cityofgadsden.com.

The paid portion of Noccalula Falls Park was closed Friday for storm clean-up.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Severe storm hits Etowah County