Severe storms bring hail to Brantley
Published 3:11 am Thursday, April 29, 2021
- essi Elizabeth Gibson and family show off the large hail that fell in Brantley May, 22.
Saturday was an intense weather day for southeast Alabama. Warnings were scattered throughout the day and Code Red was in full force as rain poured down throughout the day. Severe thunderstorms moved through the county beginning in the early hours and continued until 6:30 p.m.
Several trees were reported down across the county from Brantley up to Lapine. Thankfully, the damage to most areas was minimal. One injury did occur from a motor vehicle accident involving a fallen tree,
Elliot Jones, Crenshaw County EMA director, followed the storms from the beginning.
“At approximately 4 a.m., we started tracking storms that had started forming to our southwest,” Jones said. “One particular storm in the Evergreen area had kept our attention due to its rapid growth in intensity and directional path. At 5:52 a.m., this storm reached the south end of our county and started what would become an exceptionally long severe weather day. We had a total of seven severe thunderstorm warnings, one tornado warning, one weather related automobile accident with injuries, almost 20 thunderstorms with prolific lightning and extreme rainfall, and several hailstorms throughout the day. We had the largest hailstones that I have ever dealt with fall in the Brantley area. Some of these were almost tennis ball size, which could have been deadly if they would have struck someone. The last severe level storm expired at 7 p.m., with a few non-severe storms that finished the day out in the south end of the County. Even though this was a day of severe weather, we should all be thankful that the damage was no worse than it was.
We also should remember to keep the person that was injured during the MVA in our prayers. Please keep in mind that during this time of year a non-severe storm can become dangerous without warning and this type of atmosphere will be with us until at least the end of May.”
The hail that fell in the county ranged from small chunks to baseball size. No injuries were reported from hail falling.
