NWS confirms an EF-1 tornado struck Mitchell Co. Sunday morning

SALE CITY, Ga. – This weekend’s storms left an impact on parts of Southwest Georgia.

CBS 44’s Brian Roche joins us live in rural Mitchell County.

Brian, we understand that a team’s been surveying the damage.

Yeah Cameron,

As we mentioned during our noon broadcast earlier today, the damage across Mitchell County has been surveyed throughout the day, with the Pebble City Volunteer Fire Department being one of the biggest hits.

A team from the National Weather Service (NWS) got here to Pebble City Road early this afternoon to begin their assessment of the damage from this weekend’s storms.

We met with National Weather Service (NWS) in Tallahassee, Florida, Meteorologist-in-Charge Felecia Bowser at the site of what was the Mitchell County community center as they began with damage assessment.

“We saw the circulation and now we come out and visually look at it. We’ll see trees that’s fallen in different directions and other indicators that will help us to assess that is a tornado. We feel comfortable with saying that this was a tornado. Now we have to assess it to give it a rating,” said Felecia Bowser, Meteorologist-in-Charge, NWS Tallahassee, Florida.

Both the community center and the Pebble City Volunteer fire department were leveled in the wake of the tornado..

And… while just around 100 yards away, the Pebble City Baptist Church is rebuilding from the loss of their steeple with the building still in tact.

Bowser tells us that the stark difference will help with assessment and how Mitchell County can rebuild.

“We have to actually look at the structure. If it’s something that was solidly built, was it something that was a little bit weakly built that helps us with the assessment with the wind. Because, if a steeple has come down, or if the structure was made out of tin, that actually raises a little bit easier because the wind can get underneath tin. So, we have to kind of look to see exactly what the structure was made out of. And that will help us with our assessment,” said Bowser.

And… the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners has put out a message on Facebook reminding the public to steer clear of hard hit areas so that crews can get to these places to clean up the debris.

As of Monday evening, the National Weather Service released its preliminary findings from their storm survey and the damage was consistent of an EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds of 105 mph.

Brian Roche reporting.

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