‘It was just a matter of time’
The Storm Alert Center was on site Saturday and Sunday to document tornado damage and talk with those affected by a storm in the eastern part of Russell County. PHOTO | (Storm Alert Center)
Staff Report
For Daniel Wilson, Chief Forecaster of Storm Alert Center, weather is more than something that just happens from day to day.
It’s history.
It’s intense study and analyzing of what weather is, how it works, and what can happen when conditions are just right for an event like Russell County saw last week.
Friday, a possible EF3 tornado tore through Russell County.
Johnny Polston, who lives on Alligator Creek Rd., captured an image of a tornado which tore through Eastern Russell County Friday. PHOTO | (Used with permission of Johnny Polston, in conjunction with Storm Alert Center)
Armed with specialized equipment and vast knowledge, Wilson watched and waited as a supercell thunderstorm which originated in Springfield, MO traveled through Kentucky and produced a tornado in the Eli and Gosser Ridge communities.
The path the storm took, and the stories told during and after the event, are all too familiar to him.
The weather historian noted the April 27, 1971, tornado which left deaths, injuries, and widespread destruction in its path, and he even has items retained from that legendary event.
“I have said for a long time it was just a matter of time until Russell County had another major tornado,” Wilson said.
Sure enough, it’s happened.
Wilson spent Saturday and Sunday surveying damage in the tight-knit agricultural community and talking with people affected by the tornado.
A caring community came together to help those affected by a tornado in the Eli/Gosser Ridge area Friday. PHOTO | (Storm Alert Center)
“So many people talked about how it was before the storm hit,” he said. “Muggy feeling, thick…. the calm before the storm, sense that something was going to happen. There was someone who told me how their dog wanted to cling to them before the storm hit.”
And then…
“Damage was widespread in the Eli community with debris everywhere-with damage to homes and buildings,” he said. “Some places sustained more damage to out buildings and garages.”
“People gave varying accounts of what they heard,” Wilson said. “(Some said it) sounded like a train, roaring, humming, houses shook, lightning was continuous, many rode it out in the basement and storm cellars. Automobiles were tossed around; power poles were snapped. At one place there were friends and neighbors gathered in a huddle prayer.”
With “boots on the ground,” Wilson attempted to capture history in words and pictures.
Wilson said a generator hummed in the “Sunshine Community” as Tyler Popplewell milked his cattle.
“Every head he owned were trapped in his severely damaged milk barn,” Wilson said. “Roofing was strewn several yards away and downed trees were on his property.”
Matthew Tucker, on J. Tucker Road, looked over damage of his barns and fences.
A debris field from Friday’s tornado was evident at a pond off J Tucker in eastern Russell County. PHOTO | (Daniel Wilson/Storm Alert Center)
“Debris was widespread with metal and items blown from his and his neighbor’s property,” Wilson said. “He said it was a big setback, but that he would make it one day at a time. All his cattle were accounted for. The barn lost was sentimental because it was his dad’s barn.”
“A man and his young son took shelter from the tornado on J. Tucker Road,” Daniel said. “He grabbed him up tightly with debris flying, buckled him in the car, and they went to a low place trying to get away from the tornado.”
The Gosser Ridge homes of Jeremy Roy and Crawford Gosser were a total loss.
Crawford Gosser, along with his great-granddaughter Avery Strader, looked at the remains of Mr. Gosser’s home after a tornado tore through the area Friday. Mr. Gosser, who is 99 years old, was thrown from his bed, and is currently recovering from injuries he received. PHOTO | Sarah Gosser Strader
“Both back sides and the roofs of the brick homes were blown away as well as many family possessions,” Wilson said. “Linda Helm (Crawfords’s daughter) said they were able to salvage a few special items.”
Wilson reported the Stillwater gated community “looked like a war zone” with “hardly any trees left standing.”
“Large trees were twisted and broken, some on homes,” he said. “A creek within that community is filled with huge trees.”
Preparedness is essential with severe weather, Wilson said, and he is proud the Storm Alert Center, which is part of the neighboring Breeding Fire Department’s Storm Spotter Network, “was warning Russell County of a funnel cloud being located by trained spotters along and just east of Breeding before it hit Russell County.”
Coordinated efforts from the Eli Volunteer Fire Department “were above and beyond as multiple agencies from different counties came to assist,” he said.
At presstime, “several remain without electricity” due to the storm, Wilson said, and no final designation of the tornado’s EF scale had been made by the National Weather Service.
