The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado struck New Hope on Thursday evening.
The EF1 tornado went through the area about 6:15 p.m., according to NWS in Jackson.
Approximately 23 structures were damaged around the Lakeover subdivision, where the storm did the most damage, according to Cindy Lawrence, director of the Columbus Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency.
Of the 23 buildings damaged, one was destroyed, six had major damage and 16 had minor damage, Lawrence said during a press conference Friday.
No injuries were reported.
Clean up lasted all Friday in New Hope neighborhoods affected by the storm.
Residents recall storm
Kaye Truitt, who lives in Lakeover subdivision, had three trees fall on her home while she and her husband hid in a hallway. Truitt said the storm was over in about five minutes, but as she and her husband came out of hiding, they smelled gas. They left the home and called the gas company.
It took an hour for the gas company to arrive, and in that time Truitt’s husband was able to turn the gas off. With a neighbor’s help, they determined that the house was safe to sleep in. Though several trees and branches poked holes in the roof, most were in the attic. There was only one big hole in the living room, Truitt said.
The roof will need to be replaced.
Truitt said Lowndes County officials did a good job responding to the damage. Construction crews worked in her neighborhood all day Friday and the trees were off her house by noon.
Sarah Logan, who lives near New Hope Road, was watching the storm clouds gather from her driveway with her son and a friend of his. She snapped pictures and video of the storm on her cell phone.
At first, Logan said, it was very quiet. Then suddenly the gentle swaying branches of nearby trees began to snap off. At that point, she and her son and his friend ran into the house and took cover in a hall closet.
Down the street, Logan’s neighbor, Frances Keathley, heard the storm alarm on the radio and decided to get in her next door neighbor’s storm shelter. Once in her yard, she saw the tornado.
“It looked like just black smoke coming up from the ground,” she said.
Keathley said she ran across the yard to make it to the storm shelter before the funnel cloud reached her home.
“It was close behind me if it wasn’t right on my heels,” she said.
Keathley hid in her neighbor’s storm shelter and her home only suffered minor roof damage, though a tree in her front yard was ripped up by the roots.
Mark Oswalt, who also lives in Lakeover subdivision, was less lucky.
By Friday afternoon, construction crews were using cranes to remove trees from his house and roof. Several trees went through his roof and into his living room.
Neither Oswalt nor anyone in his family was home at the time that the tornado hit.
“As far as I know,” he said, “nobody in the neighborhood was injured.”
Oswalt’s insurance company has put his family in a hotel, though Oswalt stayed in his home Thursday night to fend off potential looters.
Responses
First responders and construction crews were throughout Lowndes County from 5:30 p.m. to about 11 p.m. Thursday assisting people trapped in their vehicles by trees or downed power lines, according to Sammy Fondren, the fire coordinator for Lowndes County.
Lynn Wright, superintendent of the Lowndes County School District, said the district was able to have school Friday.
The American Red Cross set up a shelter at New Hope Community Center on Stadium Road for anyone needing assistance.
Officials with 4-County Electric Power Association reported that there were about 1,700 power outages in the county following the storm. By Saturday, power had been restored.
Throughout most of Friday, people in and around New Hope gathered limbs and other litter from the storm and made piles. Neighbors chatted and exchanged storm stories, while their dogs sniffed suspiciously at construction crew members and other strangers who turned up to help.
“This is kind of one of those things that brings everyone together,” Truitt said.
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