Cherokee County was fortunate Thursday night, as a Tornado Watch remained just that, a Watch – until finally being called off around 12:30 Friday morning.  DeKalb County, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.

Homes were destroyed, tractor-trailers were blown over and a gas line ruptured in north Ft Payne when a possible tornado struck the city.

According to the Ft Payne Times-Journal there were no immediate reports of any serious injuries – however, Ft Payne Assistant Police Chief Ronnie Warren said a Ft Payne Firefighter did report two minor injuries at around 1:30am.

Roughly 25 – 30 people were displaced by the storms, according to the National Weather Service in Huntsville.

Two homes on Green Valley Circle sustained heavy damage, in what could possibly have been a tornado, and emergency personnel were concentrating their efforts there, after checking on those residing at Mountain View Apartments, where heavy damage was also reported.

Jet Polymer, at 4811 Gault Avenue North – was damaged when several shipping containers were blown into the building; a gas leak was also reported in that area.

There were also reports of truck trailers being blown onto an industrial building near exit 224 off I-59 in Ft Payne.

The National Weather Service placed DeKalb County under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning at 12:03am.

At that time, the storm – producing winds of around 60 miles per hour – was near Crossville. The Tornado Warning came at 12:32am for a radar-indicated possible tornado.  The warning from the weather service in Huntsville indicated that the storm was in Ft Payne and moving toward Valley Head and Mentone.

The weather service cancelled the warning soon after the storm moved into Georgia.

(Ft Payne Times-Journal/www.times-journal.com/al.com)