Thunderstorm Wind in Lauderdale County, Alabama

A bow echo from an embedded supercell within a line of thunderstorms intensified and produced a long-lived and at times wide swath of wind damage as it entered the Shoals, including Florence and Killen, to the east central part of Lauderdale County north of Elgin. Widespread wind damage occurred in south, southeast and eastern Florence to Killen, becoming more sporadic further east. Wind speeds of 60-65 mph occurred in much of this area, with a few gusts of 80-90 mph in a few locations. One of the hardest hit locations was between Killen and Florence where the entire roof was taken off of antique mall, a sign was blown out at a church, and roofing was taken off of a fire station. Trees, power poles and power lines were taken down in numerous locations, stormwater and gas lines were damaged, and debris and utility restoration costs were extensive. Schools buses were damaged, parks were damaged with extensive cleanup. A significant number of residences experienced damage due to falling trees. Damage, cleanup and repair costs are in the millions of dollars.

A bow echo from an embedded supercell within a line of thunderstorms intensified and produced destructive winds in a narrow swath of north and northeast Florence.|Wind speeds of 60-65 mph occurred in much of this area, with a few gusts of 80-90 mph in a few locations. Trees, power poles and power lines were taken down in multiple locations. Trees were knocked down onto multiple homes and vehicles. The Seven Points district and areas just north and northeast of the University of North Alabama campus were hit particular hard. Along this long swath, a significant number of trees, power lines and power pols were knocked down. Many residences experience minor to severe damage from trees falling onto their homes or vehicles.

A series of thunderstorms wreaked havoc with Lauderdale County with some of the hardest hit areas including Center Star, Cloverdale, Central, Elgin, and Killen-Rogersville area according to EMA officials. Trees were blown down and heavy rain also produced flash flooding which flooded Lauderdale 8 where 13 people had to be rescued when water stranded several cars and swept one off a bridge. The heavy rain/flash flooding washed out culverknots and damaged 14 bridges, two of which were completely destroyed. Cloverdale reported seven inches of rain during the series of thunderstorms.