NWS: EF-0 tornado hit Andy

Published 1:55 am Thursday, February 9, 2017

The National Weather Service in Mobile confirmed Wednesday that an EF-0 touched down in the neighborhood behind the Cash and Carry in Andalusia Tuesday afternoon.

An EF-0 tornado has wind speeds of 65-85 mph.

Covington County Emergency Management Agency Director Susan Harris said that they completed the damage assessment and reported it to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service.

“NWS was here (Wednesday) morning and did confirm it was a tornado,” she said.

Harris said 63 structures received minor damage.

There were eight structures with major damage or completely destroyed.

One injury was reported, and five families were displaced.

Harris said the county doesn’t qualify for FEMA funding.

“You have to have a certain dollar amount and we aren’t even close,” she said.

Harris said that NWS officials scoped the area looking at the way trees were laying and other things to determine the wind speed which classified Tuesday’s storm.

Tuesday’s storm touched down around 3:30 p.m., wreaking havoc on the neighborhood between Cash and Carry and Sanford Road and destroying campers in an RV park.

The storm interrupted power to more than 600 homes.