What to Know For Your Wednesday in West AL
1) With daylight comes a better look at the damage left by a suspected tornado that cut across Greene and Hale counties last night.
Emergency Management teams in each county are conducting preliminary damage assessments this morning. Hale County EMA Director Russell Weeden says, "We have between 30 and 40 homes that were heavily damaged or destroyed last night but I hope to have an accurate count by noon today".
The Hale County damage was in Akron where County Roads 45 and 55 are still blocked by downed trees and power lines as are a few smaller roads.
2) In Greene County, officials there will work with Red Cross today to find housing for 15 families who saw the roof ripped off their building at Sagewood Apartments in Eutaw last night. The residents spent the night with family, friends or in the Carver Elementary School gymnasiums.
3) No injuries resulted in West Alabama from the tornadoes, deadly lightning and 70 mph straight-line winds, but two people did perish in Montgomery.
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4) All that heavy rain in Tuscaloosa left the I-359, I-20/59 with flooding. ALDOT is working to resolve the problem.
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5) A survey team from the National Weather Service in Birmingham will be in Greene and Hale counties today to determine if damage left by overnight storms resulted from tornadoes or straight-line winds.
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6) 758 Greene County residents remain without power this morning. 885 customers remain in the dark in Pickens County while power crews work to restore electricity to 347 residents in Hale County. Almost 4,000 customers are getting ready for work and school without lights in Walker County. 1,872 customers are still without power in Tuscaloosa County.