HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A line of severe storms caused sporadic damage in several north Alabama counties, Alabama emergency officials said Friday.
Lauderdale County emergency director George Grabryan said an 8-year-old boy and his mother sustained cuts and bruises from straight-line winds that damaged the roof on their home.
Elsewhere in north Alabama, neighborhoods lost power because of tree limbs that fell on power lines, and some homes and buildings sustained damage.
Officials said survey crews from The National Weather Service would be dispatched later Friday to determine whether the storms spawned any small tornadoes as they moved through Calhoun, Cullman, Dekalb, Elmore, Fayette, Madison, Marion, Lawrence, Limestone, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties.
The fierce winds overturned boats at a marina in northern Alabama. An emergency manager reported that storms caused significant damage at a resort and marina along the Tennessee River west of Athens, overturning boats and blowing rooftops off.
In the Fort Payne area, an emergency manager reported that the roof of an apartment complex was blown off.
Jennifer Schuller, a mythologist with the National Weather Service, said there also was a report of a semitrailer blown into an industrial building near the north side of Fort Payne.
In Calhoun County, an emergency manager reported snapped power poles and minor damage to several buildings along Alabama Highway 77, including a gas station, post office and grocery store.
The storms also toppled trees late Thursday and early Friday in Marion, Fayette, Walker, Tuscaloosa and Elmore counties.
Just northwest of the marina, an emergency manager reported that the roof was blown off a house near Rogersville.
As of early Friday, the weather service’s survey teams planned to focus on three general areas, Schuller said.
One was a path of reported damage that stretched east along U.S. Highway 72, from the marina to the small community of Coxey. Other areas were in Lauderdale and DeKalb counties, she said.
“As the sun comes up, more people will call us to give us more updated information,” Schuller said.
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