Severe storms and at least one tornado swept through Limestone County on Tuesday, snapping utility poles, downing trees and leaving thousands of residents temporarily without power.

A preliminary report from the Huntsville office of the National Weather Service (NWS) revealed an EF-1 tornado was to blame for toppling trees and power lines in the area south of Lucas Ferry Road and west of Sandifer Road in Athens. 

An initial NWS estimate found the tornado touched down bearing peak winds of 105 miles per hour. NWS shared with social media followers that the Limestone County tornado touched down for a destructive three-minute span between 6:11 p.m. and 6:13 p.m. on Tuesday, tracking for a length of 2.76 miles at a maximum path width of 160 yards. 

NWS officials advised that its initial assessment and resulting data from Tuesday’s north Alabama storms — including an EF-2 tornado touchdown near the Greenbrier Parkway — will be followed by supplemental assessments in the field throughout affected areas of the Tennessee Valley. The May 20 weather event also caused storm damage in Madison, Marshall, DeKalb and Jackson Counties. 

Due to power outages, a number of local schools did not meet on Wednesday, while Athens High School and Athens Middle School operated on a 3-hour delay. An estimated 15,000 Athens utility accounts were without electricity in the storm’s immediate aftermath, as crews worked into the night Tuesday and throughout the day Wednesday along areas of U.S. Highway 72, Lucas Ferry Road, and Sandifer Road to restore power. 

Work crews also narrowed a southbound portion of Interstate 65 to one-lane traffic on Wednesday, clearing storm debris just south of the highway’s Borwnsferry Road exit near the Buc-ee’s travel center. 

The worst of Tuesday’s damage came just as darkness fell. Alabama State Troopers reported a 7:40 p.m. lane closure in the affected I-65 area due to multiple fallen trees. The late-day storm caused chaos on the city’s south and west sides, snapping 13 power poles along Lucas Ferry Road and causing additional damage along Sandifer Road just west of Jefferson Street. Flooding also caused the closure of Levert Avenue south of U.S. Highway 72.