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Storm Cleanup Gets Underway In Century

Photo courtesy of NorthEscambia.com

A storm packing a suspected tornado razed at least 30 homes in Century, along with downing power lines and trees Monday afternoon. One woman was dug out of the rubble of her home, and is said to have non-life-threatening injuries.

“We always hate to hear of this type of event occurring, but it does happen periodically in our part of the world, We’re just very, very fortunate that we didn’t lose anybody in this event,’ said John Dosh, Escambia County Emergency Manager.

“There is no confirmation from the [National] Weather Service that this has been a tornado,” Dosh said. “But all indications from the evidence that we’ve seen, it looks pretty obvious to me. The Weather Service is the one to make that determination.’

After touching down around four o’clock Monday afternoon, the twister appears to have cut a path through a wooded residential area southwest of town along U-S Highway 29. The storm also dumped torrential rain onto Century and the rest of the Pensacola area.

Dosh says search and rescue has accounted for all residents, with the work now shifting to damage assessment, and removing debris and downed power lines from roadways.

“We’re working very hard with the local power companies – Gulf Power and Escambia River Electric Co-Op,” said Dosh. “There’s no guarantees that the lines are totally dead. So we’re asking everybody to stay away from the power lines; if you’re in one of those neighborhoods, stay in your house.”

Four schools -- Northview High, Ernest Ward Middle, Byrneville Elementary and Bratt Elementary – remained closed today to keep school buses off area roads.

In Pensacola, severe storms hit the area of 9th Avenue and Creighton Road, damaging Eastgate Shopping Plaza and Walmart. And Gulf Power continues work to get the electricity restored.

As cleanup begins, Escambia County Emergency Chief John Dosh has one message to those affected – have patience.

“I understand you had a rough night, but there’s a lot of things going on and we want to make sure that everything we do is in a safe manner and nobody else gets injured,” said Dosh. “We’ve got folks here to get things back to normal as quickly as we can get there.”