Strong winds deal major damage to house in Gordon

By Greg Phillips

Published: August 25, 2008

All the Brady family could do was huddle together under a mattress and pray as the oak tree in the front yard crashed into their home.

Within a matter of seconds, what seemed like a tornado had touched down at their house. Within a matter of seconds, it was gone.

“It was calm at first, and all of a sudden, it got real, real hot, and then it started raining, and the wind was just rolling real bad,” said Melanie Brady, who, along with her infant son, was at the house with her parents-in-law when the straight-line wind from a thunderstorm sent the tree crashing into the roof.

“We had just gotten under the mattress, and it started rumbling. It felt like the whole trailer was shaking,” she said. “It just went ‘boom,’ and felt like it hit and was just gone. It was a roar.”

Initially, the family believed it had been hit by a passing tornado.

“We heard the alert on the radio that a tornado warning was issued, looked outside, and there was a change in the weather,” said Jeff Brady, the owner of the house and Melanie’s father-in-law. “The winds started swirling, and there was a black cloud on each side of a pink cloud. About that time, the wind started getting stringer, and we got under a mattress, and that happened.”

The Houston County EMA reported the event as a strong straight-line wind. Straight-line winds can cause damage similar to that caused by tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.

Luckily for the Brady family, none of them were harmed.

“It seemed like the longest moments of my life,” Melanie said. “It was scary. I was praying to God, and my baby was just sitting there, and all we could do was hold him. I just know God was there. I’ve never really had an experience like that, but I know he was there. I just felt him.”

Jeff said the weather alert may have saved the family’s lives.

“It located the storm pretty close to our house prior to hitting it,” Brady said. “As we watched the weather change, we noticed the difference in the clouds.”

For the Bradys, the next step is dealing with the insurance concerns. Half of the house is badly damaged, while the other half remains intact.

“This house is pretty well damaged midway all the way to the end. The other half is still structurally sound,” Jeff said.

According to Melanie, her parents-in-law won’t have to look far for a place to live.

Malerie, her husband and their son live in a trailer directly behind the house. Their trailer was unaffected by the winds.

“They can stay with us as long as they want to,” Melanie said.

According to the Coffee County dispatch office in Elba, a tornado was also spotted in Coffee County’s Battens community Monday night, but no damage was reported.