Tornadoes leave trail of destruction

Renee Newbury looked outside around noon Thursday to the horrifying sight of a tornado taking aim at her western Lauderdale County home.

She talked later about fearing that she and her son, David, were going to be killed.

"It was scary," Newbury said. "I saw it coming across the field. It was just spinning in a circle.

"It started out just as a small funnel and as soon as it hit the ground it was like it exploded. All of the sudden, it was huge and it was coming right at us. Then just before it got to our house, it turned and hit (my father-in-law's) house."

The twister left a six-mile path of destruction from near the Oakland community to Central Heights in Lauderdale County.

A few minutes later, another tornado left a trail of damage across northeast Colbert County near Leighton as well as northern Lawrence and eastern Lauderdale counties. Tornado damage also was reported near Loretto, Tenn., a short period later.

"It was a busy day," said Andy Kula, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Huntsville office. "It started about 8 o'clock with a tornado watch, and then we had a couple of warnings for Franklin and Colbert counties from the cell that caused a tornado in Tupelo, Miss. Then we had a second line of storms a couple of hours later that caused all of our tornado and wind damage across north Alabama."

Two people were injured, at least two homes destroyed and six others damaged by the tornado that touched down near Oakland, said George Grabryan, director of the Florence-Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency.

A manufactured home on Lauderdale 112 was flipped on its side.

In Lawrence County, a cabin was destroyed and at least four others were heavily damaged by a tornado that struck Doublehead Resort near Town Creek. That same system later struck the Rogersville area, causing heavy damage to one home there.

One Doublehead cabin was knocked off its foundation. One wall was ripped from the building, exposing the entire cabin. Downed trees were visible almost everywhere.

At least three homes were damaged when a tornado touched down west of Loretto, said Bill Phillips, public information officer for the Lawrence County, Tenn., Emergency Management Agency.

In eastern Colbert, a tractor-trailer was overturned, numerous trees uprooted, and vehicles and buildings were damaged by a tornado, said Mike Melton, director of the county's Emergency Management Agency. In addition, numerous trees and power lines were knocked down.

Renee Newbury is counting her blessings. Her home had only minor damage.

"Had it kept coming, it would have taken the end off our house," she said. "I don't know how it turned."

The tornado destroyed the home of Glenn Newbury, her next-door neighbor and father-in-law.

He was inside the home at the time and suffered numerous cuts and bruises as the tornado ripped it apart. His grandson, Matthew, who also was inside the home, had a cut on his cheek and other injuries.

"We were sitting there watching television when we heard it roaring and carrying on, then - boom - the door blew open and glass went flying everywhere," Glenn Newbury said. "It was roaring like crazy. It only lasted about two seconds. As soon as the wind died down, I looked around, and the end of the house was gone."

He said he and his grandson were lucky they were not injured more seriously.

Renee Newbury said the twister struck without warning.

"We didn't have any warning whatsoever," she said. "All of the sudden the rain and wind started to pick up and it was here. After it was gone, the tornado warning siren down the road finally went off."

Grabryan said the tornado formed quickly and touched down before the National Weather Service could issue a warning.

Weather service forecasters had warned Wednesday that a storm system approaching the Tennessee Valley might spawn tornadoes as it passed through the region Thursday.

"These small tornadoes can form in the blink of an eye," Grabryan said.

After receiving reports of damage along Lauderdale 14 between the Oakland and Rhodesville communities, the weather service issued a tornado warning for north-central Lauderdale.

The weather service issued a warning for eastern Colbert about five minutes before the damage occurred, Melton said.

Northern Lawrence and east Lauderdale residents also received advanced warnings.

Glenn Newbury's neighbor, Jenny Hogue, said she is thankful she and her family were not home when the tornado struck. The twister broke numerous windows and ripped away part of the roof of their home. A tool shed behind the home was destroyed.

"I had left to go to the beauty shop right before the tornado hit," Hogue said, as she surveyed the damage.

Next door at her father-in-law's home, the twister uprooted a massive oak tree and sent it crashing on top of his underground tornado shelter. The base of the tree was about five feet across.

"I'm just glad we were in town and not in that storm shelter when it hit," Ronald Hogue said. "We would have been OK, but would not have been able to get out."

The tornado lifted his home from its foundation. "It's probably totaled. It's warped inside," he said of his home.

Ronald Hogue's neighbor, Sabrina Reed, who works at Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse in Florence, had volunteered earlier in the day to go to Tupelo, where a tornado heavily damaged the Lowe's there.

"I got turned down on going to Tupelo, I guess because I was fixing to get hit," Reed said.

The tornado ripped shingles from Reed's roof and uprooted numerous trees in the yard. Her husband, Jimmy, was inside when the tornado hit, but escaped unscathed.

After wreaking havoc on the Reed's neighborhood, the twister caused damage along Lauderdale 81 and Lauderdale 222 before overturning Leigh Ann Frederick's home on Lauderdale 112.

Frederick was not home when the tornado struck. The wind lifted the manufactured home from its foundation, ripping its anchoring system from the soil. The 16- by 80-foot home came to rest on its side.

Frederick's father, Leo Kilburn, said had a group of trees not been there to stop the home, the powerful winds would have likely caused it to roll over and over. "I'm just glad they were not at home and everyone is all right."

An American flag on the porch of Frederick's home survived the storm and flapped in the breeze as her family and friends assessed the damage.

The tornado also took aim on the Central Heights community, where it peeled away the roofs of several buildings at Bighorn Lumber and Hardware on Lauderdale 200.

Across the road, the strong winds caused two limbs to fall onto John D. Smith's home.

"Boy, these tornadoes are bad this year," Smith said. "I'm telling you, this is the worst tornadoes I've seen."

Mary Sue Hennigan was standing on her back deck at an area known as Hennigan's Crossing off Second Street in northeastern Colbert County. "It was just raining, and all of a sudden, the wind started blowing and it hit," Hennigan said. "The next thing I knew, I looked out and saw all of this mess."

She lives just off Second Street, where her backyard suddenly became filled with a large downed tree and live downed power lines.

Hennigan appeared calm while describing the storm. "It happened so fast, I didn't get a chance to be afraid of anything," she said.

Several residents in that area saw the tornado form.

"I saw a black funnel, and the clouds were just twirling," said Alicia McCoy, who lives on Helena Drive near Second Street. "Everything flickered in my house and just went dead.

"I dove in the closet. I had my Bible in my hand and I was praying."

Her neighbor, Rose Johnson, looked outside when she heard a tornado was spotted along Alabama 101.

"This was gusty wind, but I didn't think it was a tornado until I saw a long rope-like thing in the sky," Johnson said. "I couldn't believe it. I didn't look for it to be that close.

"Just as soon as I saw it, it went back up in the cloud."

Mark Kimbrough's friends became concerned and called to warn him because he lives in a mobile home.

When Kimbrough got the call, he looked outside his residence, toward a field off Second Street.

He said that's when he saw a tornado dip out from a deep-black wall cloud.

"It touched down in the field and came through and destroyed everything," he said.

He ran to his next-door neighbor's home, not wanting to be stuck in a mobile home when the storm hit. Kimbrough said he barely made it in the house, as the wind roared. Three pickups and a motorcycle were destroyed by a huge tree that fell on the neighbor's driveway and home.

"I liked to have never gotten their front door open," Kimbrough said. "I got in and shut the door and it hit. Stuff started flying," he said, "and the tree fell on the house."

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com.