Cell apps give storm warning

Minutes before a storm roared through the Bethel-Roberts community Sunday afternoon in Escambia County, Ala., the two residents mostly impacted received their initial warning through their cell phones. Television weather reports confirmed the news and both families took cover as the storm ripped off roofs and destroyed a pole barn.

Gene and Marissa Whitt and their children were inside their home at 606 Yellow Creek Road. Tiffany Day and her children were inside a mobile home across the road.

The first tornado warning was issued at 1:26 p.m. When the Whitts received the alert on their cell phone Marissa was cooking lunch at the time.

"It said it was was near Bethel and Fuqua Road," Gene said. "I told her to turn off the food."

As the Whitts and their children were headed to the closet they saw the tornado coming across a field toward their house.

"It sounded like a train," Marissa said. "Everything started breaking and slamming."

The Whitt family hunkered down in a closet, lying on top of each other. A few minutes later, the storm was gone. When they looked outside, their pole barn was gone and a shed in the back was damaged.

Marissa looked across the road toward the Day's mobile home and the roof was gone.

"When I came outside I waved to Marissa to let her know we were OK," Tiffany said.

Like the Whitts, Day got her first alert on her telephone and immediately turned on the TV.

"They said there was circulation in the area of Munson Highway and the Sellersville area heading toward Roberts," Day said. "I told the kids to grab the twin mattresses off the beds and get in the hallway."

She said with her and her children lying under the mattresses, it got really quite and still. Then she heard a loud boom.

"It lasted about three minutes," she said. "We could hear things crashing nearby and metal ripping apart. It was terrifying, especially while trying to keep the kids calm."

"I'm grateful it didn't tear through our home like it did the pole barn," she said. "There was a lot of praying going on."

Emergency personnel, along with workers from Southern Pine Electric Cooperative, were soon on the scene.

Escambia County Emergency Management Director David Adams said while the storm has not definitely been labeled a tornado the evidence showed rotation and eyewitness accounts point to a tornado.

The storm snapped off the tops of several trees before crossing a large field toward the two houses.

"There appeared to some twist to the storm," Adams said. "In the big picture, it wasn't a really bad storm unless you are one of the people who suffered damage. If your roof gets blown off it really doesn't matter whether it was a tornado or straight-line winds."

When asked about the cell phone warnings, Adams said there are a lot of apps available for people but he prefers the Alabama SAF-T-NET app which is available free to all Alabama residents.

The SAF-T-NET app allows users to choose three locations where you would like to know if bad weather is coming. Adams said he chose his residence, the school where his daughter works and his office. He also said the app allows for a fourth setting that uses the GPS in the phone to alert someone if they are away from the three set locations.

"If you travel to Montgomery and have the app, it will alert you to bad weather in Montgomery," Adams said.

The app notifies people of the path of dangerous storms through voice messages, text messages and email.

"It's a great tool," he said. "If you have a child off at school you can choose that location and get weather alerts."

To obtain the free app, either Google or go to Yahoo to get to the Alabama SAF-T-NET website and follow the directions.