Storms create more damage

The threat of “severe” weather has definitely taken on new meaning for those in Franklin County and residents hunkered down once again as a line of strong thunderstorms moved through the area late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

The strong winds were nowhere near the 210 mph winds of the EF5 tornado that tore through the county a month ago, but the thrashing trees, loss of power and booming thunder were all too familiar in an area still feeling the devastating effects of “severe” weather.

According to Franklin County Emergency Management Agency Director Roy Gober, they received reports of downed trees, wide-spread power outages, roof and structure damage and hail.

“We had one report of a tree that fell on a trailer on [Franklin] 25, but the people were able to get out,” Gober said. “The worst part of the damage seems to be in the west end of the county from Belgreen to Red Bay.”

Red Bay Police Chief Janna Jackson said large trees had fallen across the city, portable buildings at the school had blown over and vehicles had been damaged by either trees or hail.

“The damage wasn’t just concentrated to one area,” Jackson said. “It seemed to be all over town.”

Power outages were reported across the county and crews from both Russellville Electric and Franklin Electric Cooperatives stayed busy throughout the night working to restore power to the area’s residents.

Russellville Electric Board Chief Executive Officer Steve DeFoor said as of Thursday at 10 a.m., 99 percent of the power in Russellville had been restored.

“There’s only a very small number of our customers who haven’t received power,” DeFoor said.

Gober said Thursday morning power was still out in some parts of the county, but Franklin Electric crews were working as fast as they could to get it back on.

“There was just such a widespread amount of damage to the power lines,” Gober said.

He added the National Weather Service said straight line winds were the cause of the snapped trees and power poles and winds were anywhere from 60 to 70 mph.

“There was debris all over the county and the county and state highway departments, the cities’ street departments and the volunteer fire departments have worked hard through the night and today to get the trees and debris out of the roadways.”

Gober said as of Thursday morning, there hadn’t been any reports of injuries related to the storms.