Tornado causes damage to Marion homes

During Tuesday's round of storms throughout Alabama, an EF-1 tornado touched down in Perry County and caused damages to several homes. 

The storm lifted a mobile home on County Road 29 about three miles north or Marion in Perry County, according to Perry County EMA Director Deandre Kimbrough. 

“Representatives from the National Weather Service were looking at the damage today (Jan. 4) and they confirmed it was an EF-1.” Kimbrough reported.

He said the homeowner, Sylvia Hester, got an alert on her phone and about that time she felt the house lift up. It came off its foundation and moved 8 to 10 feet to the north.” Kimbrough said when it came back to the ground it folded in half and a large portion of the roof was blown off. “Neither Mr. or Mrs. Hester were injured.” 

Kimbrough said they also lost a storage shed. There were two other mobile homes across the street that received some damage, but no one was home in either when the storm came through. He said there were some trees down across the county and a report of some roof damage from a few homes in the county.

In a post on his Facebook page, Perry County Commission Chairman Albert Turner Jr. said that he was also present at the community affected by the storms. 

One home was lifted off of its frame and had its roof damaged. Another home's doors were broken and trees in the yard were uprooted. The third had a porch that was reportedly destroyed. 

In his post, Turner said that he would seek to buy weather radios for residents using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. He will bring this up at the next commission meeting.