Editor’s note: This is Cullman County’s No. 8 news story of 2008, as picked by the editorial staff of The Cullman Times.

By Tiffany Green

STAFF WRITER

Friday, April 4, 2008 was no ordinary day in Cullman. Fierce winds ripped across Cullman, causing damage to shops, restaurants and service stations. Emergency crews covered the area , blockading roads from oncoming traffic while firefighters and electricians worked to clear downed power lines.

According to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service, an F1 tornado caused at least some of the damage in the county. Strong winds knocked down trees and power lines from Good Hope and Crane Hill to Arab and Baileyton.

Less than a month later, another possible tornado hit parts of the county, mainly in the Colony and Arkadelphia areas. Phyllis Little, director of the Cullman County Emergency Management Agency, said most of the damage was concentrated along Alabama Highway 91 as well as Colony Road, County Road 35 and County Road 8.

Debris from the April 4 storm caused a fuel leak at the Exxon station on Highway 31. Gasoline fumes filled the air for blocks around the site.

Firefighters, emergency medical technicians, police officers and others from around Cullman, Morgan and Marshall counties convened across the street from the leak at a staging site in the Cullman Shopping Center.

Employees looked with interest from behind stores’ locked glass doors.

“When it hit, the corner of the roof lifted up. There is one corner where the blocks are missing,” Margie Teal, floral manager at Food World told The Times.

“I was looking out the window and I thought ‘Good Lord, what a black cloud,’” she said. Minutes later, Teal said she looked up in time to see the strong winds whip up pieces of buildings and hurl them through the parking lot.

Traffic stretched along the side roads around the shopping center while police detoured drivers away from the gas leak and around areas where trees had fallen across roads.

Once the situation was assessed, EMA issued an evacuation of businesses and homes in the area around the gasoline leak, including the Cullman County Courthouse.

Volunteers with the American Red Cross set up a temporary shelter at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church for those displaced during the evacuation.

The storm swept through the area so quickly that residents had little time to brace themselves and the Cullman County EMS had no time to activate their warning sirens.

“The sirens were not activated because we weren’t under a warning,” Little said in an interview with The Times. “A warning was not issued until after the storm already hit. That’s not unusual because these storms just drop out of the sky.”

Cullman Police Chief Kenny Culpepper said the majority of the damage, which was believed to be caused by straight-line winds, was located around Highway 278 North near Ann Street, the St. Joseph area and Highway 31. No injuries were reported that were a result of the storm.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Little. “We were blessed we didn’t have any severe injuries. ... When you ride around and look at the trees down, it makes you feel blessed.”

Hundreds of volunteers worked through Friday night and early Saturday morning to clear streets, direct traffic, reconnect power and remove any hazardous material threat from a gas leak on Highway 31.

Though power crews worked throughout the night in several areas of the city, hundreds of residents remained without power Saturday afternoon.

Little said overall, she was very pleased with emergency response within the county.

“The response groups worked really well together,” she said. “We had some glitches but we realized where they are and those will be the points to work on and make better. The incident command system we’ve been learning and trying to put in place works, and last night was just an example of how well it can work.”

Police forces, law enforcement from Blount and Marshall counties and state troopers came to assist with road blocks and traffic control.

Area nursing homes and hospitals also enacted their emergency plans to offer refuge to homebound residents who may have had damage to their homes or were evacuated due to the gas leak.

“I’m so thankful for the emergency response in this county,” Little told The Times. “I’m just thankful to the business community in the city that came out and provided food for the responders and made sure we had drinks and ice so those guys could keep working. It makes me proud.”

‰ Tiffany Green can be reached by e-mail at tgreen@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 221.