EF-1 Tornado confirmed for Pike County
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, November 18, 2014
The National Weather service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in Pike County early Monday.
Jeanna Barnes, emergency management director for Pike County, said the survey team had inspected a damage path from the Crenshaw County line near Ansley through Pike County to Stills Crossroads at the Bullock County line. The damage resulted from a tornado reported to have crossed the area around 5 a.m. Monday.
“What we saw today was mostly downed tress, a lot of limbs. A lot of debris, leaves splattered everywhere,” Barnes said. “There were broken limbs and branches, and a lot of uprooted, some snapped. Soft woods and hardwoods and some very large oak trees that had been snapped in half.”
While most of the damage was done to rural areas of the county, much of Pike County saw increased amounts of rain and high winds during the storm. Emergency sirens also were used to alert residents in Troy proper and throughout the county.
“That’s something we always like to stress, because the outdoor warning system is intended for people that are outdoors,” Barnes said. “They have a one-mile radius, but that’s on a clear day. If you’ve got a loud storm with heavy rains and wind, it will quickly drown out the sound of the sirens. Plus, they are susceptible to lightening strike or malfunctioning. It’s always good to have more than one method for alerts.”
Details of the damage and path length of the tornado are being reviewed but once collected, will be combined with any survey information from the National Weather Service to make a complete path, Barnes said.