An overnight wave of intense thunderstorms knocked out power early Sunday for almost 200,000 Alabamians.
A tornado watch was issued for 32 counties in the central Alabama region around 9 p.m. on Feb. 15. This included Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lowndes, Marengo, Marion, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker and Winston Counties.
After weathering a severe thunderstorm, the tornado watch was canceled for Cleburne, Elmore, Montgomery and Tallapoosa Counties at 3:16 a.m.
Jordan Creel checks on his truck beside a large downed pine tree in the Cloverdale neighborhood in Montgomery, Ala., on Sunday February 16, 2025. The tree, blown down during an overnight storm, blocked Park Avenue and took down power lines.
As severe winds pushed across the state, more and more Alabamians found themselves without power early on Feb. 16. According to poweroutage.us — a website which collects, records, and aggregates live power outage data from utilities all over the United States — around 2:30 a.m., 153,384 customers were without power, with Hale County being hit the worst.
The number of power outages soared to 193,737 as the storm spread further into southeast Alabama at 4:49 a.m., with Coosa County mostly in the dark. At 5:37 a.m., 14,722 of those outages were restored, still leaving 179,015 customers without power.
A large downed pine tree blocks Park Avenue in the Cloverdale neighborhood after an overnight storm in Montgomery, Ala., on Sunday February 16, 2025.
The Elmore County Emergency Management Agency said that “damaging winds” caused “widespread damage throughout the county, top to bottom, north to south, all across the county, there’s reports of damage.” There are over 60 reports of damage in Elmore County, two-thirds of which involved downed trees, with the other third in reference to powerlines down — or, in some cases, power lines down entangled in downed trees.
The Elmore County EMA confirmed that there were no reports of injuries, but six homes were reported to have trees on them, and another home’s awning was blown off in the winds. All trees on roadways had been cleared before 8 a.m., the Elmore County EMA confirmed, except for several trees down on Double Bridge Ferry Road in Eclectic, Alabama.
In Montgomery County, the EMA confirmed that most of the damage they’ve seen is in the Pike Road area. Several trees, powerlines and transformers were down. Macon East Academy and Fire Station 6 sustained significant damage, and Montgomery County’s EMA said that Fire Station 6 will be out of commission, though the fire trucks themselves were not damaged and will simply be moved to a different fire station while Fire Station 6 undergoes repairs.
Workers make efforts to remove a tree that struck a vehicle on Merriweather Road in the Pike Road area at 4:32 a.m. on Feb. 16.
No tornado was confirmed to touch down in Montgomery or Elmore County. The damage, according to both Montgomery and Elmore County’s EMA, appears to be straight-line winds. The Montgomery County EMA said that the Montgomery Regional Airport tower clocked 70 mile-per-hour winds. Both Elmore and Montgomery Counties’ EMA said they are in discussions with the National Weather Service about assessment of the damages.
READ MORE (Source: Montgomery Advertiser)
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