Long-tracking tornado leaves behind damage in Alabama

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Bill Wadell reported live from the scene of damage in Alabama on the evening of March 15 after a day full of severe storms and tornadoes.

Transcript

00:00Accuweather's Bill Waddell continues our live team coverage tonight from Sipsi, Alabama.

00:05Bill, a lot of damage reports in the area after a tornado was spotted.

00:09So what are you seeing there in Sipsi, Alabama?

00:14Yeah, Jeff, understandably a signal pretty tough here in this area.

00:18People nearby saying that they spotted a tornado, and we just got here within the past 30 seconds.

00:24So it's tough to show you the pictures,

00:26but we could see trees that have been snapped and came down onto the roof of homes,

00:31as well as parts of roofs that have been damaged on at least two homes here.

00:36We're just to the northeast of Sipsi, Alabama,

00:40and emergency crews are out here as well as some utility crews.

00:44It looks like power is out.

00:46But again, this is some of the damage that's being reported all throughout different parts of Alabama.

00:53I know I was just looking at a report from Accuweather meteorologist Jesse Farrell saying

00:56this was one of those storms that tracked for quite a distance across this part of Alabama.

01:01So family members are out here surveying the damage.

01:04We still have rain coming down, so that's adding to the issues that people are dealing with.

01:08But again, I'm seeing several homes here along this street where there was a tornado warning.

01:14People are saying that they saw a tornado in this area,

01:16and we can confirm here trees are down and parts of roofs have been ripped off of homes.

01:21Okay, Bill.

01:22And, you know, your signal has dramatically improved.

01:24We can see very clearly now what's going on there, so we appreciate you.

01:28I know you've had quite a day in Tennessee just hours ago and, again, lots of miles recently.

01:34But what's the one thing that sticks out to you the most with this kind of an event, the flooding, the tornado damage?

01:41I know that you're on the move here right now, but a lot of different hazards are in place at the same time.

01:47It's kind of chaotic here with the flooding and also the trees down and so forth.

01:53Yeah, what really sticks out to me is that families, in some cases,

01:56have gone through these tornado warnings and frightening situations multiple times.

02:02We were in nearby Dodge City, and the tornado sirens went off again,

02:07and you saw some people, you know, looking around, checking their phones.

02:11These are cases where families in this area maybe got a tornado warning earlier today with some of these storms.

02:16Things, for the most part, okay, definitely a strong storm, but then the next storm behind it actually producing a tornado,

02:23producing damaging wind gusts, snapping trees, damaging homes.

02:27So I think what stands out to me is that this was, you know,

02:30not just a clear-cut case of one storm moving through an area.

02:33Some families have been dealing with multiple tornado warnings.

02:37They're now dealing with damage, rain coming down.

02:40And with a forecast like this, how dire it was and that warning for people to take this seriously,

02:45that takes a toll on a lot of families and people who have been there.

02:50We're thinking of those families.

02:51Again, we're starting to lose daylight quickly here.

02:54That's why these people are here with tarps, trying to do as much as they can to protect their damaged homes

02:59and the things inside while they can.

03:02Okay, that's well said, Bill.

03:04And, you know, totally aligned with what you just said, I brought up the shear tracks,

03:08which follows the path that various storms that were rotating kind of painted on the map here.

03:13So it's basically just a tracer of where we've had strong rotation today.

03:16And to your point, some of these areas in an area northwest of Birmingham

03:21and real close to the location where you are have had multiple rotating storms track right over the same area,

03:27multiple tornado warnings.

03:29And, again, the warning fatigue is just not a fun thing here.

03:31This is a stressful, stressful thing.

03:33A lot of people have a lot of fears associated with storms like these.

03:36And, Bill, we appreciate your reporting as always.

03:38Ackie with us, Bill Waddell.

03:40The man is the hardest working man in the building here,

03:42and sometimes he's out of the building because he's working so hard.

03:45Thank you, Bill.

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