Published: August 7,2015
The storm hit several businesses along a stretch of U.S. 231 southeast of downtown Troy, including a Walmart that was open at the time the storm hit. AL.com reported that a nearby Hibbett Sports store also suffered damage, and a semi truck was overturned by strong winds.
On Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado with wind speeds as high as 100 mph caused the damage. The twister was 50 yards wide and stayed on the ground for less than half a mile.
According to the NWS, a tornado was reported 1 mile south of Troy University at 10:38 p.m. local time, near the location of the damaged businesses. One minute later, a tornado warning was issued for radar-indicated rotation; prior to 10:39 p.m., no warnings had been issued for the area.
(MORE: Track Severe Storms As They Push Through the South)
Damage to the interior of the Troy, Alabama, Walmart on the night of Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015.(Jared Lott)
"It flipped multiple trucks and tractor trailers in the parking lot, and damaged a strip-mall structure near the Walmart. There is also water damage in the area from damage to a water main," Reeves told NBC News.
As the storm slammed the Walmart, customers inside the store ran for sturdy shelter while portions of the roof collapsed.
"I was looking for somewhere to go," Eric Bagents, who was inside the Walmart, told the Troy Messenger. "I just got low ... I was heading to the bathroom because it’s walled up, but I stopped before I realized that’s what I needed to do."
Although Alabama is one of several states that make up Dixie Alley – a swath of the Deep South where tornadoes are common – twisters do not frequently hit Alabama late in the summer.
"According to the NWS-Birmingham, August is one of the least tornadic months in Alabama, averaging only about one each August statewide," said weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman. "In southern Alabama, other than waterspouts near the Gulf Coast, any late summer tornadoes tend to come from tropical cyclones or their remnants. Since 1950, Pike County, Alabama, had only two other August tornadoes, both occurring when Tropical Depression Fay was tracking over the Deep South."
Here are additional photos from social media showing the damage left behind:
Hibbett Sports in Troy had substantial damage from a likely tornado just before 11pm..pic from @Doug_WSFA #alwx
The tornado demolished Hibbett Sports in Troy
Troy Walmart damage looks significant, but can't call it tornado yet. NWS survey needed to confirm.
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