Out in the heavily wooded hills and hollows of Sugar Creek Estates on the banks of the Elk River, sometimes it’s hard to see what’s coming out of the skies.

But you can hear it, according to resident Marie Dean.

“I looked out and the flag wasn’t even blowing, but I could hear a roar,” said Dean. “I remember being a little girl and hearing that same sound at Happy Hollow, and I said I’ll never forget that sound. It’s a tornado.”

On Saturday, Dean’s husband, Bobby Dean, served his renowned chicken stew to District 4 road crews and tree-cutters, Randy Mashburn, Justin Romine, Jason Carter, Mitch Robertson and Ronnie Gooch, and anyone else who happened by their hilltop home at the end of Sugar Creek Way.

Chainsaws had buzzed almost non-stop since the line of storms swept through Limestone County Friday night.

The National Weather Service hasn’t confirmed if it was a funnel cloud that uprooted and toppled 3-foot-thick oak trees throughout Sugar Creek Estates, but residents are convinced it was a twister that struck their neighborhood.

Workers at the National Weather Service office at the University of Alabama in Huntsville planned to visit sites where storm activity was reported to confirm possible tornadoes Saturday.

Forecaster Patrick Gatlin said the office received several reports from Limestone County, including one of a tornado near Elkmont and one of a funnel cloud near the Coxey Community.

“What we need to do is take a more in-depth look at these sites,” he said. Crews will look for paths of damage to confirm tornadoes, he said, adding that his reports may not be completed until today.

No report was available Saturday from Athens-Limestone County Emergency Management Agency on damage reported elsewhere in the county.

Saturday, District 4 Commissioner Bill Daws measured the 3-foot diameter of an oak that winds uprooted in Sugar Creek.

When the big tree went down its roots pried up a 3-inch water main, bursting it.

Water poured from the broken main into the Elk River until midday Saturday when Water Department crews shut off the supply.

Sugar Creek resident Nancy Raney said her son, Doug Raney, called her from his St. Louis, Mo., home Friday night to ask if she was okay.

“He’d been on the computer and he said, ‘Mom, there’s this big, big old storm right over you,’” said Raney. “We didn’t realize what was going on, but it cut a narrow strip right through the neighborhood.”

Raney and her husband, Billy, did not sustain any damage at their house, but they walked up the road to the home of friends, John and Elaine Webster, and found that a fallen tree narrowly missed their mobile home, but did considerable damage to a late-model customized van parked outside.

The Raneys helped clear debris from the driveway so the Websters could get out.

Several large trees blocked Sugar Creek Way until tree-cutters could get out to saw them up and road equipment operators could remove the logs from the road.