ENTERPRISE — Enterprise and Coffee County residents are always wary when it comes to severe weather, and they had good reason on Thursday afternoon when a storm left a path of destruction across several county roads near the Goodman community.
George and Marie Campbell of County Road 625 said they felt fortunate to be alive. A barn, carport and the roof of a mobile home were damaged and several large trees were uprooted nearby.
“The carport went flying into the air near the barn, where the roof was torn off,” Marie said. “This is the second time my life has been spared. I was in a hurricane in the 1970s and I’m thankful to God.”
George Campbell was at home when the storm struck and said he saw a tornado ripping his barn roof off and destroying his carport.
“Then, it came around again. Maybe there were two,” he said.
Campbell stood beside an large, uprooted oak tree on Thursday as rain showers continued to fall.
“I planted this oak tree when it was little a long, long time ago,” he said. “We had a swing with a cover on one of the limbs, but now the tree and swing are gone.”
Joe Ed Donaldson, a County Road 611 resident, lives within a few miles of Campbell.
“My wife, son and I were at home when it hit. I know the wind got really rough and you couldn’t hear anything because of the heavy rain coming down,” he said. “In about five minutes, after it was over, we looked outside and my barn was gone. All of the debris was out in the road, a pine tree looked like something split it in half, and I had fences torn down.”
Along with the barn and other damage, Donaldson’s two vehicles were damaged during the storm.
At the scene, Coffee County Sheriff Dave Sutton said, “We had one confirmed tornado, maybe two. ... A clear path of something strong came through this area across several county roads.”
Donaldson said his weather radio sounded an alarm just a few minutes before the wind got high. “We all got in the center of the house until it was over. ... It could have got the house and us in it,” he said.
Sutton said damage was reported at three other houses on County Road 551.
“We had reports of a man laying down on a couch and his patio set just came through the door next to where he was laying down,” Sutton said.
“We were very fortunate that no injuries occurred with this storm.”
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