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Rachel Manning (left) and her daughter-in-law Paulette Manning survey the damage after a tornado hit Rachel Manning’s home Saturday night.

Tornado confirmed in DeKalb

By Jared Felkins
The Times-Journal

Published March 30, 2009

A preliminary storm survey assessment by the National Weather Service has confirmed that a small tornado touched down in rural DeKalb County on Saturday.

But to 83-year-old Rachel Manning, the tornado was a big one. As the storm swept through DeKalb County at about 8:15 Saturday night, high winds brought trees down around and on top of Manning’s home on County Road 1971 south of Hammondville.

“I was utterly shocked,” Manning said.

Apparently, Manning is a heavy sleeper because the tornado ripped through and even sent a large oak tree through the roof of her bedroom, and she wasn’t disturbed.

“She slept through it,” said dauther-in-law Paulette Manning. “I don’t know how she did it.”

For Rachel Manning, she’s upset the trees won’t be around any longer to provide shade for her front porch.

“It’s ruined my shade,” Rachel Manning said. “I like to get out there and read.”

The EF1-rated twister brought winds of around 105 mph.

“Based on the damage reports we got and what we saw on radar, we determined there was an EF1-rated tornado,” said NWS Meteorologist David Nadler.

Meteorologists at the Huntsville office said numerous trees were snapped along DeKalb County Road 610 and Route 85, about four miles west of Valley Head. The tornado downed about 40 trees.

Nadler said the tornado’s path length was about 2.5 miles and measured 50 yards in width.

Additional storm damage was found near Highway 11, south of Hammondville.

There were no injuries.

“It could have been a whole lot worse,” said DeKalb Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Leath. “From talking with the weather service, it started in the Peak’s Corner area and they tracked it over into Georgia. It never lost its intensity. It just sat down where it sat down.”

According to NWS records, the last significant tornado on record in DeKalb County was an EF-1 tornado in April 2003 in the same area as Saturday’s twister.

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