Residents picking up pieces of powerful Henagar storm

HENAGAR, Ala. (WDEF) – Henagar, Alabama was one of the hardest hit areas of Wednesday night’s severe weather.

City and DeKalb County Officials say around 11 p.m. Wednesday, they believe a tornado struck the community and damaged at least 25 to 30 homes.

They said despite two serious injuries and a handful of other minor injuries, no one had died in the storm.

Officials praised the preparedness of first responders and citizens to avoid fatalities.

The home of Wanda White completely destroyed by a likely tornado in Henagar on May 8, 2024.

Michael Posey, the DeKalb County EMA Director, said, “I think that all of us can agree that DeKalb County has a very resilient population, and we also have a population that takes severe weather serious.”

They said at the height of the storm, nearly 5,800 people were without power in Henagar.

News 12 saw National Weather Service personnel from Huntsville surveying the damage Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, we spoke with some of the Henagar residents most directly affected by these tornadoes.

Residents up and down Lacy Road, which officials called the worst hit area of the town, recalled the horror of the monster storm coming in the middle of the night.

Randy Womack said, “We didn’t hear no freight train like everybody says, just debris slamming against our house.”

Shannon Womack added, “And the wind, the trailer shaking.”

Many residents lost vehicles and had trees come through roofs among other common damages.

Shannon Womack said, “I mean, it’s never been this bad before, but it was just the only way I could describe it was pure fear, because we were standing in the living room that God would protect us, and he did.

However, for Wanda White, she lost her family’s entire mobile home as it was ripped off its concrete block foundation and strewn across an open field.

However, one decision due to a previous experience of the April 27, 2011 Super Outbreak may have directly contributed to her family’s survival.

White said, “Because we was in one on (Highway) 40, and we was in our house and we didn’t have a storm shelter, but it tore up everything through there.”

 So they spent over seven thousand dollars on a shelter made by Safe Shed.

On Thursday morning, that storm shelter was the only structure left standing on their property.

White said referring to the complete destruction of her property, “This! This is why you need a storm shelter. All this because that’s what I could’ve been laying in, if you could’ve found us… We wouldn’t have been here, ain’t no way we would have survived. We wouldn’t have been here if it hadn’t been for the storm shelter.”

Residents also poured support for their neighbors in need, as officials say over 300 people helped clean up damage immediately after the storm.

Randy Wormack said, “It means we’re an awesome community.”

Shannon Wormack said, “We’re such a close knit community.”

It is worth noting the Henagar area did have another tornado warning around 8 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Thankfully, no additional damage appears to be caused from that storm.

Officials say they will have to wait on how much uninsured losses total before any sort of push for a federal disaster declaration can be pushed for.