ALAMO, Tenn. — Crockett County homeowners are cleaning up after a tornado ripped through the area.
The National Weather Service confirmed the destruction was caused by an EF-1 tornado.
Debris is littering many people’s yards, but the good news is most do have insurance.
Roofs were torn off buildings.
“It was a shock,” Alamo resident Keith Vandiver said. “We really weren’t ready for this. We thought it was pretty well blown over. I was in town, and a friend said, ‘I think the top’s gone off your shop.'”
But that is not what people in the small town of Alamo really care about.
“All this can be replaced,” Vandiver said. “Family can’t. So, all in all, it’s fine with me.”
Crockett County Mayor Gary Reasons said Tuesday’s tornado was strong enough to leave some people temporarily homeless.
“There’s quite a bit of damage, out buildings… Some of the homes are beyond livable for several days.”
The American Red Cross came to lend helping hands.
“We’re providing lunch and clean-up items, as well as working directly with the clients who have been displaced from their home,” Heather Carbajal with the American Red Cross said.
But many are not cleaning up just yet, not until insurance agents can tally the cost to repair and replace.
“It will be after Charlie gets here, with Farm Bureau,” Vandiver said, laughing. “When he arrives and tells us what we can do, we’ll start and commence to cleaning up after that.”