Tornado reported in Demopolis, Livingston; damage minimal

Published 11:25 am Saturday, April 24, 2010

Most of Marengo County, including Demopolis, Myrtlewood, Jefferson and Linden, spent more than an hour under a tornado warning from about 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. Saturday. The line of storms that first moved through area shortly before 10 a.m. caused damage in Meridian and spawned what was believed to be a tornado.

At 11:05 a.m. a tornado was reported on the ground near the Demopolis Municipal Airport but that has been unconfirmed at this time by the National Weather Service. However, only minor damage has been reported to city or county officials. Most of that damage was contained to broken limbs and downed trees. The city landing sustained the most consistent damage, still primarily downed trees and broken limbs due to strong winds.

Only minutes before a tornado breezed through Demopolis, one touched down near Livingston and caused extensive damage to several homes.

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Several trees and power lines were down in the northwest part of the Demopolis along the Tombigbee River. One tree fell on Monroe Street across from the Demopolis Civic Center and caused a power pole to fall into the street. Several tree branches were broken by heavy winds, causing them to fall on power lines around the city landing. Trees and power poles lay in the street at the landing, and two large trees toppled in the field adjacent to the city landing. Alabama Power Company crews and officials with the City of Demopolis were working to clear the roads and repair the power lines.

The storms caused a lot of damage to trees and power lines, but it also affected a local wedding between Atlay Phillips and Reaymundo’ Nelson. The reception was roiginally planned to be held at the Demopolis Civic Center, but downed trees across the street from the Civic Center brought down power lines, forcing the reception to be moved to the Theo Ratliff Activity Center. The storm also affected another event that had to be moved to the Ratliff Center earlier in the day that affected the reception.

“The wedding is going to be fine; it’s just that we have to change plans for the reception,” Phillips said. “We can’t get in there until after 6:00, because someone else is doing a function at the Rec (Jones Recreation Center), but because of flooding over there, they had to move to the Ratliff Center, and they should be out of there by 6.”

Phillips’ wedding begins at 6 p.m., but her friends need time to get the reception ready for her guests, so they pushed the time of the reception back to 9 p.m.

If you have any photos of tornado activity or damage, please email them to news@demopolistimes.com