Greystone Farms tornado debris removal to start Monday

The city of Hoover plans to start removing debris from the tornado-ravaged Greystone Farms community Monday, Mayor Frank Brocato said.

“It looks like we had close to 100 homes with some degree of damage” in Greystone Farms,” the mayor said. “And 20 to 25 probably will have to be demolished and rebuilt.”

Brocato, who served 42 years with the Hoover Fire Department before retiring and running for mayor, said he couldn’t recall any tornado that caused this much damage in the city.The worst he could remember was one that came through the Rocky Ridge area several years back, and he doesn’t remember any homes completely destroyed in that one, he said.

“It was just remarkable we didn’t have more or significant injuries or loss of life” from the tornado that came through Thursday, Brocato said. There were only two minor injuries reported in the city of Hoover, and the worst was a cut to the head that required some stitches, he said. Both the injuries were in Greystone Farms, which appeared to be the only community in the city limits of Hoover significantly affected by the tornado, he said.

The tornado caused damage in West Blocton, Helena, Pelham and the Oak Mountain, Eagle Point and Highland Lakes communities before reaching Greystone Farms and continued through Shoal Creek and Vandiver before ending in St. Clair County.

The National Weather Service said the tornado traveled 50 miles and rated it an EF3 tornado with estimated peak winds of 140 mph. Some of the most significant damage was in Eagle Point.

Brocato said the city of Hoover activated its emergency operations center immediately after the tornado came through and gave a coordinated response between the police, fire and public works departments.

Police had the Greystone Farms neighborhood secured a few hours after the storm and were continuing to monitor access there Sunday, even though Greystone Farms is a gated community that is not open to the public on a regular basis, Brocato said.

The Fire Department treated the two people who reported injuries and set up charging stations where people could recharge their cellphones and other items that needed charging, he said.

Streets were cleared, and the city established a helpline — 205-444-7877 — a few hours after the storm for anyone to call who either needs assistance or wants to volunteer to help those affected.

Though many people were displaced from their homes, most people found places to stay, Brocato said. He was not aware of any requests for outside assistance regarding housing, he said.

Brocato said he was in Greystone Farms about an hour after the storm hit and was back there Friday morning with department heads touring the neighborhood and speaking with residents.“Debris removal is going to be a mammoth task,” he said. “But we’ll be in there working til we get it cleared out.”