Four years ago Monday, three tornadoes tore through Cullman County, Ala., bringing a day of destruction to communities across the area. The sunrise tornado in the Hanceville area started the disaster. After a lull, an EF-4 tornado came through downtown Cullman and another came into Fairview and other areas of the county.
Immediately following the tornado outbreak, which devastated Tuscaloosa and many other areas of the state, residents began rebuilding, and as Cullman Mayor Max Townson recalls, an economic surge began to take place.
“People have asked me, seeing how Cullman is growing, and I go back to the tornadoes,” Townson said. “We saw so many good things begin to happen, and it started with the character of our citizens. We haven’t slowed down since, with all the retail growth and the industrial expansions, and we’re still looking at creating more jobs.”
Townson said he was also impressed with the organization in the city and county in response to the tornadoes. Emergency responders joined with citizens in checking on neighbors for safety and then the cleanup got under way.
“I remember taking a class on natural disasters that Phyllis Little (Cullman County Emergency Management Agency director) told me about in 2010. It was valuable because it asked what would you do and who would be in charge. We placed the fire chief and police chief in charge and Dale Greer from our economic development team headed up our communications efforts,” Townson said.
Little remembers a long period in which she and assistant EMA director Kelly Allen were away from their families for long periods of time as the demands of assessing and coordinating emergency relief for residents settled in.
“It was a challenging time, but in the aftermath of all that happened people are a lot more aware of changes in the weather. We also have established a lot more community shelters for storms. A lot of good things came from the storms and I believe we are all more aware and organized because of it,” Little said.
Just in the city of Cullman alone, 90 businesses were destroyed or suffered damage from the tornado. Across the county, numerous houses and farms were damaged by the day-long outbreak of tornadoes. Two people lost their lives in the rural areas of the county and well over 100 suffered minor injuries from the storms.
“I know since that time our spotter classes have strong attendance, which is very valuable in our efforts to monitor storms,” Little said. “And you look about and so much has been rebuilt or being rebuilt. I’m thankful for the organization and cooperation of our emergency responders and the heightened awareness of the public. Those are two key points I see.”
©2015 The Cullman Times (Cullman, Ala.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
