Rainsville hit by a 'strong EF-1 tornado' according to NWS

Rainsville was hit hard Wednesday night by what authorities say was a tornado.

DeKalb County EMA Director Anthony Clifton said on Thursday that the National Weather Service officially surveyed the damage, which it believes was caused by a "strong EF-1" tornado that touched down at about 8:45 p.m., according to Clifton.

He had earlier predicted the rating, saying, “From every indication of this storm, it looks like a minor tornado,” he said.

Clifton said about eight houses were damaged in the tornado’s track, most of them reporting minor damage to roofs. He also said they were “very lucky” to have had no injuries reported as a result of the storm.

“There is one house reporting major damage, as they had three different trees land on top of the house,” he added. “Several outbuildings have major damage and BlueScope Steel also had significant damage to their roof and some of their other buildings.”

The Rainsville Police Department in a press release said most of the houses damaged were on Kilgore, St. Willingham and St. Hodges streets and Church Avenue North. Trees and powerlines were reported down at the Autumn Creek Subdivision on Kirk Road, and damage also was reported at the Plainview softball field.

Clifton said that the possibility of a tornado was first reported at about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday, and the NWS officially issued a tornado warning about 8:15 to 8:30.

“It looks like the tornado touched down, went back up, and then touched back down again for about another mile to the southeast,” he said. “It went up and touched down again in the north at the industrial complex."

Clifton added that the tornado “came out of nowhere,” as the EMA was not expecting the storm to tighten back up like it did or the damage that was caused.

“We thought we were in the clear and were just going to get some rain, but the storm spun back up again and got started,” he said, “About every five years or so, we do get these no warning events that lead to some sort of damage.”

Clifton said officials were surprised to learn that DeKalb was possibly the only county in the Huntsville weather market area to have received tornado damage.

Recovery, cleanup and power restoration efforts were underway on Thursday. “Everyone who can get power back right now has it,” Clifton said. “There are two houses that currently do not have power because the meter was ripped off their poles, so it will take some time to repair those.”

Weather models had predicted another round of storms over the weekend, so the EMA was working quickly to cover damaged roofs with tarps to prevent further interior damage to homes.

Clifton thanked the Rainsville Police Department for its help in keeping the surveyed areas safe and EMA staff members for their work on surveying the damage.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Rainsville receives damage in a "minor tornado"