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The National Weather Service confirmed Monday that an EF0 tornado plowed through the area west of Fort Deposit over the weekend leaving two residents injured and homes damaged in its wake.

Nathan Owen with the National Weather Service said a survey team visited the area off Lowndes County Road 45 Monday morning. Preliminary results indicate the storm that hit Fort Deposit early Sunday morning was an EF0 tornado.

“Right now, [findings are] still preliminary,” Owen said. “We are still cleaning up some of the information, but I think we’ve determined at least preliminarily, an EF0 tornado with winds up to 85 miles per hour touched down west of Fort Deposit along County Road 45, near Knight Place Road.”

Brandyn Sousa, battalion commander with the Fort Deposit Volunteer Fire Department, said the department was dispatched to an overturned home at 216 Knight Place off County Road 45 around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 29.

“There were multiple power lines down on [County Road] 45,” Sousa said. “When we arrived at Knight Place, there were trees and power lines across the road. We had to park on 45 and hike in to check on every resident.

“There was a lot of damage. Two houses, mobile homes, cars and outbuildings were damaged. One house did flip over onto its roof.”

Sousa said two people inside the mobile home were injured during the storm.

“We finally arrived at the overturned home and rescued a family that was still trapped inside,” Sousa said. “Two people were injured. One person was transported by ambulance to the hospital. He had a broken foot.”

Additionally, there were downed power lines throughout the area and a couple of houses were damaged by fallen trees.

Around 10 a.m. Sunday, Alabama Power reported 4,290 central-Alabama customers — 1,100 in Lowndes County were without electricity due to overnight storms. Pioneer Electric responded to 565 members in the area who lost power due to broken poles and downed power lines.

Volunteers stayed in the area until around 4:30 a.m. and returned later in the morning to help with cleanup and debris removal. 

No deaths occurred in Fort Deposit during the event, Sousa said. However, four people were killed by tornadoes across Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas between Saturday and Sunday. There were two deaths in Mississippi, one in Texas and one more in North Carolina.

An EF0 tornado is the weakest tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with wind speeds between 65 and 85 miles per hour. Damage from an EF0 is described as minor and usually includes peeling off surfaces from some roofs, damage to siding or fallen limbs or trees with shallow root systems.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham expects to have more details related to the storm on its website later in the week. Visit www.weather.gov/bmx/stormsurveysmainpage for updates.