NWS confirms tornado near Graysville
Bob Niedbala/Observer-Reporter
Sandy Whipkey surveys damage to trees Wednesday morning on her property off Martin Road near Graysville caused by Tuesday’s storm.
Photo courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Damage from a strong storm Tuesday in Graysville, Greene County, is shown. The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down Tuesday near Graysville as strong storms passed through western Greene County.
Courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Photo courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Damage from a strong storm Tuesday in Graysville, Greene County, is shown. The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down Tuesday near Graysville as strong storms passed through western Greene County.
Courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Damage from a strong storm Tuesday in Graysville, Greene County, is shown. The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down Tuesday near Graysville as strong storms passed through western Greene County.
Courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Damage from a strong storm Tuesday in Graysville, Greene County, is shown. The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down Tuesday near Graysville as strong storms passed through western Greene County.
Courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Photo courtesy of Adam Douglas Hartzell
Damage from a strong storm Tuesday in Graysville, Greene County, is shown. The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down Tuesday near Graysville as strong storms passed through western Greene County.
GRAYSVILLE – Stephen Koss watched in disbelief from his front porch on Stringtown Road near Graysville as a funnel cloud passed behind his house Tuesday evening.
“It was a big funnel cloud, a twister,” Koss said. “There was all this stuff in the air, that’s what was so fascinating, debris flying around and around in a circle.”
The National Weather Service confirmed Wednesday an EF-1 tornado touched down near Graysville as strong storms passed through western Greene County about 5 p.m. Tuesday. The winds were estimated at around 90 miles per hour.
It was only the seventh confirmed tornado in Greene County since 1950, but the second one in less than 14 months. A tornado damaged a home near Pine Bank Aug. 22, 2017, although a woman and her children were unharmed. Before that, the previous tornado reported in the county happened July 1, 1990.
Koss had been watching the news on television when his power went out. He heard the wind blowing and went to the front porch to investigate.
Koss said the funnel cloud was about 500 yards from his house and wasn’t traveling very fast.
“It was moving west to east, from the top of the hill behind my house, toward Breakneck Hill,” he said.
In addition to seeing debris carried by the high winds, which Koss said might have been house shingles or objects of that size, he could hear the “cracking” of trees being snapping off.
Downed trees resulted in the closing of Stringtown Road for a time Tuesday evening. Koss said his house was not damaged. However, a shed at a house up the road was reportedly destroyed and a tree limb fell on a neighbor’s truck.
The storm downed numerous trees, demolished the cover on a hot tub and caused minor damage to the home of Sandy Whipkey of Martin Road, just north of Graysville.
Whipkey said Wednesday she heard the emergency warning on her television and noticed the wind beginning to pick up.
“I ran to the front door to get my cat in … and then everything started going sideways,” she said.
Whipkey said she didn’t stick around to see if it was a tornado, but immediately ran to the basement. She had difficulty describing the sound she heard from the storm.
“There was so much noise,” she said.
The strong winds blew in one of the basement windows.
“When that window blew in, I thought my house was gone,” she said.
But then, the wind seemed to end as fast as it had started, she said.
Whipkey said soffit and fascia on her home was damaged, porch furniture destroyed and the cover on the hot tub in the back yard was ripped to pieces. A number of trees also were downed, blocking her driveway.
Her daughter, Reeda Whyte, a neighbor, Chuck Rice and her nephew, Gary Whipkey, cleared the trees from her driveway.
Whipkey said it could have been much worse.
“Thank God it was nothing major,” she said. “I’m very lucky.”