CENTRE — By press time Saturday, the vast majority of people in Cherokee County still didn't have any electricity. Miraculously, however, they had all survived a massive tornado that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage across Alabama and left over 200 confirmed dead.

As Wednesday night's howling destruction gave way to clear blue skies Thursday morning, county officials began gathering to inspect damage, offer emergency assistance to each other's agencies and formulate recovery plans for victims.

The Goshen Valley community in southern Cherokee County was completely wiped out by a tornado that touched down less than two miles from the site of a deadly twister on Palm Sunday in 1993. Only one injury was reported, despite a half-mile wide scene of devastation that was revealed with the sunrise.

Cherokee County EMA Director Beverly Daniel called a Thursday 8 a.m. meeting at her headquarters to discuss critical needs with other local officials. Subsequent meetings were held Friday and Saturday, where information flowed and requests for out-of-state assistance were coordinated.

By Saturday, generators had been supplied to all city and county pumping stations, ensuring a steady supply of drinking water to homes and businesses.

Superintendent Brian Johnson donated all the food stored in school cafeterias in the county to the American Red Cross. He also offered gymnasiums at the schools as shelters for anyone in need, though Daniel reported Saturday morning that all the families affected by the storms had found friends or relatives to stay with.

“But we still have those locations in place, in case the need arises,” she said.

One of the biggest questions at press time was the status of repairs to high-power electrical lines from north Alabama that supply electricity to the entire area.

Cherokee Electric Cooperative supplies power to around 25,000 customers in Cherokee and surrounding counties. CEO Randal Wilkie told The Post the main transmission lines from the Tennessee Valley Authority's nuclear plant at Widows Creek, near Stevenson, were destroyed by either tornadoes or straight-line winds Wednesday night.

On Saturday, Wilkie said TVA is sticking by its initial assessment on the timeframe for repairs.

“We do have some power in the county, but that doesn't mean TVA has gotten everything fixed,” Wilkie said. “They're still saying that they will have our sources of power back on by the end of the week at the latest.”

Wilkie said some areas in and around Centre and the Mount Vernon community near Sand Rock were being supplied by temporary electricity sources from TVA and Alabama Power as of Saturday morning.

“Those are basically like extension cords,” Wilkie said. “We hope those sources will stay on but there is no guarantee of that right now.”

County Engineer Corey Chambers said FEMA expected to begin statewide damage assessments by May 1. But he said that did not necessarily mean they would be in the county that soon.

Streets in Centre were buzzing with traffic Thursday morning. Many drivers ignored calls from local officials to treat all intersections as four-way stops in the absence of traffic lights. By Saturday morning, many of the traffic lights along Main Street were working again. Officials urged drivers to use caution and look our for each other until normality returns.

Businesses in Centre that had chosen to remain closed, or open only for a few hours a day, were mostly open and crowded by Saturday. Many grocery stores and restaurants were able to supply goods and services by the weekend.

A brick house the night before

By 9 a.m. Thursday, roads out of Centre to the south were filled with rescue vehicles, law enforcement patrols, and bucket trucks from Cherokee Electric. Most were headed to the Goshen Valley area.

A few hours earlier, Goshen Valley resident Patrick Chandler had looked stunned as he walked along the roadway in front of his property alongside Highway 9. His home was the only one in the neighborhood to escape total destruction, although it suffered severe damage to its roof.

The Woods family made it out alive,” Chandler said, pointing to a pile of rubble across the road that had been a brick house the night before. “That's what they crawled out of.”

Chandler said most of his farming equipment was a total loss, though he didn't know it until this morning because the storm came through after dark.

“It must have been about 8 or 9 o'clock when it hit,” Chandler said. “It turned my semis over. I've got trailers in my neighbor's yard.”

The lone bright spot for Chandler was the sight of his farm animals calmly grazing in the pasture beside his shingle-less house.

By Friday afternoon, the Sheriff's Department had established a command post at the Ellisville No. 2 Fire Department in Goshen Valley. The station and the pumper truck inside were a total loss, but the entire area was crawling with volunteers clearing fallen trees, patching roofs, and generally doing anything they could to help their neighbors.

Piles of water and food had already been delivered by lunchtime, along with several barbecue grills and a large pile of charcoal. A line of deputies, volunteers, and Goshen Valley residents lined up to enjoy donated sandwiches and relax under a tent for a few minutes before returning to the process of trying to get their lives back to normal.