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Confirmed: Tornado hit Woolsey area last Wednesday

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A crew from the National Weather Service confirmed last week that a tornado touched down at one location in Fayette County during Wednesday night’s storms from the remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy.

And an area resident may have spotted that same tornado just north of Woolsey.

The twister touched down in the Hilo Road area around 9 p.m., cutting a path about a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, according to an NWS report. The area was hit by numerous downed trees which struck houses and vehicles.

NWS officials estimated the storm to have the lowest force on the Fujiita scale for measuring tornado forces: F0.

A motorist spotted what may have been that tornado as he and his wife were driving south on Ga. Highway 92 just north of Woolsey. A tell-tale cloud caused Gary Paul Johnson to turn his car around, and that’s when the couple spotted the tornado.

“It had trees and debris flying around in it,” Johnson said in an e-mail to The Citizen.

The couple’s truck began to move and shake, and the Johnsons “proceeded at high speed back to Fayetteville,” he said.

“We heard the moan of the tornado as we were turning around” in the parking lot of Harp’s Farm, Johnson said.

Keith Henry, who lives on Merrydale Drive off Hilo Road, recalled that his dogs started howling before the tornado hit.

“About 10 minutes later you heard the woooooo, and boy, it came!” Henry said, adding that the tornado did sound like an approaching train.

The Henry family huddled in a closet underneath the staircase when the tornado struck.

In addition to downed tree limbs and uprooted trees, the Henrys also had a leaky roof, which was a remnant from when Hurricane Opal came and the roof was patched instead of being replaced. The tornado also pushed over some trees in his backyard and side yard, one of which was leaning over and could threaten his neighbor’s house.

At least no one was hurt in the storm, Henry said.

“I am thankful to God for that,” Henry said. “God protects you and everything happens for a reason.”

Henry, who works in customer service for Delta Airlines, said the tornado made him happy to have his “life, health and strength.”

The storm resulted in about $2.19 million in damage to Fayette County, officials said.