How Alabama Power responded to the Christmas night tornado

By: Michael Sznajderman

Torrential rains, high winds and tornadoes marked the Christmas holiday, and Alabama Power employees responded.

A confirmed tornado touched down in Southwest Birmingham Christmas night. The tornado and related storms caused extensive damage and flooding in several neighborhoods in the city and in neighboring Midfield. Alabama Power crews worked through the night where it was safe to restore power across north-central Alabama as the torrential rains, high winds and tornado warnings forced people to move to their safe places.

By first light Saturday morning, Dec. 26, all but the most seriously damaged areas in Birmingham and a few other spots in north-central Alabama had power restored. In Birmingham’s Hillman Station community and in Midfield, the tornado took down at least 20 power poles and destroyed homes and cars. Alabama Power crews from as far away as Montgomery and Mobile joined Birmingham-area crews and contract crews in a show of force to restore power to the remaining 1,500 customers that lost power during the extreme weather.

Kevin Laws, chief scientist for the National Weather Service’s Birmingham office, was in Hillman Station Saturday assessing damage. He said the tornado, which cut a path of destruction about three-quarters of a mile wide in southwest Birmingham, was from the same storm that also produced a tornado in Tuscaloosa County earlier Christmas Day.

Laws estimated the tornado destroyed or damaged more than 50 homes and businesses in Birmingham and Midfield, with winds around 130 mph. That would make the tornado a “high EF-2,” he said.

Charlie and Linda Baldwin didn’t even know a tornado was bearing down on their neat, green-sided home until their daughter called from nearby Pratt City. Her home had been damaged in the 2011 tornadoes that ravaged north central Alabama.

“I heard debris hitting the house, and I said, ‘we better get in the bathtub,”’ said Baldwin, 72, a retired machine operator. “Just when we were getting in, it hit. Then it was over.”

It wasn’t till he stepped outside that he realized the entire top of the home was sheared off. In front, of the home, a 2-by-4 speared a car door like a toothpick through a pitted olive.

“It’s something I would not want to go through again,” Baldwin said, staring at the remains of his home. “And I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through it.”

Ruthie Green, 67, was busy Saturday afternoon, raking up the debris from the front of her house on Jefferson Avenue in Hillman Station, about a block from the Baldwin home. She said she heard on television the tornado was a few minutes to the west, stepped outside and saw the storm coming straight up the street. She ran back in and “made it to my closet when it sounded like a bomb hit,” followed by silence. A half-block before arriving at her door, the storm turned to the south and struck the Baldwin home. Green’s house was barely touched.

Across the street, the tornado damaged Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, where Green is a deaconess. “I was down on one knee when it came through,” Green said. “God protected me.”

In all, the storms disrupted service to some 50,000 Alabama Power customers over Christmas, out of more than 1.4 million customers statewide. Flooding was a far wider problem across the state, with roads washed out and homes damaged from the Gulf Coast to north Alabama, the Mississippi line to east Alabama.

The heavy rains over recent days also forced Alabama Power to open spillgates at several hydroelectric dams.

Storage reservoirs on the Coosa, Tallapoosa and Black Warrior rivers were rising quickly, with some expected to rise above summer level. Recreational facilities at a number of reservoirs and below several dams were also affected by high water and were closed to the public. People with boats and other water-related equipment and facilities on Alabama Power reservoirs were advised to be alert to changing conditions and be prepared to take the necessary steps to protect their property.

In addition to Power Delivery crews and the company’s Hydro teams, Alabama Power Customer Service representatives fielded customer calls throughout the holiday, while the company’s communication team worked to keep customers informed via traditional media and social media channels.

In the video below from JWB Photography, a boathouse on Smith Lake was washed away by the heavy rains.

The weather is expected to stay warm and unstable over the next few days in Alabama. Customers who experience outages or any other issues can report them online at alabamapower.com, or on their mobile device, or they can call Customer Service 24 hours a day at 1-800-888-APCO (2726).

This article originally appeared on the Alabama NewsCenter blog.