Cleanup continues in Elbert County

The tornadoes near Simla last week did plenty of damage and families there are still picking up the pieces.

Last week, several tornadoes descended on the county.

Today, the weather was nice, but the cleanup continues.

“(We’re) kind of trying to get everything organized. We had adjusters come out today and they looked over the property,” said Kyle Stodola.

The National Weather Service says that the tornado that struck was rated an EF-1.

That means winds were between 86 and 110 miles per hour.

The Stodola’s house wasn’t the only building damaged by the tornado.

Further down another house saw roof damage and had a recreational vehicle tipped over.

Stodola had some warning before the tornado struck – thanks to something he thought he might never use.

“We have a weather alert system,” he said.

And when he saw it was coming his way, he knew to prepare for the worst.

“Once we saw we were going to get hit we went down to the basement,” he said.

Without it, he’s not sure what would have happened.

He said, “we could have stayed inside and not even noticed what was coming until it was too late.”

It’s possible there will be more damage from tornadoes this season.

Paul Wolyn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said, “the chances are for wetter than normal conditions this summer (which calls) for active weather.

Stodola only hopes that he and his family won’t have to see more scenes of destruction anytime soon.

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