When Disaster Strikes in your Own Backyard

6/1/2018 (Permalink)

Debris is piled high after devastating tornadoes hit Jacksonville, Alabama.

On  March 19,  2018, one of the largest severe weather outbreaks of the year unfolded in Central Alabama from Monday night until Tuesday morning, as damaging thunderstorms spawned tornadoes, hail the size of tennis balls, and damaging winds across the Southeast.  Several of those tornadoes ripped through the town of Jacksonville, Alabama, which is in the franchise area of SERVPRO Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County. Considerable damage was sustained at Jacksonville State University and surrounding neighborhoods.  Full neighborhoods were inaccessible due to fallen trees blocking roads.  Trees had fallen on homes and buildings and debris prevented travel in and out of much of the area.  Miraculously, there were no injuries from this devastating storm system, however, the damage was severe and there was much work to be done to put this community back together.  While the Alabama Governor called for a State of Emergency, we at SERVPRO Anniston, Gadsden and Marshall County and Gadsden were in emergency response mode.  Taking dozens of calls that evening and hundreds of calls over the following days and weeks, it became apparent that our franchise needed the help of the SERVPRO Large Loss Team.  Within hours, SERVPRO Birmingham’s Large Loss team was on site working hand-in-hand with us assessing the damage and formulating an action plan to cover all the calls we had received.  Our services during this storm event ranged from tree and debris removal, to water extraction, to contents packouts and moving items to storage facilities, to roof tarping and board up.  We got to partner with local subcontractors for some of these services and of course, worked closely with the SERVPRO Large Loss Team.  This community is already rebuilding and putting things back together.  We are so honored to be a part of that!