Staff Writer

Some residents are picking up the pieces of their homes after a storm passed through Troy early Thursday morning.

Just before 7:30 a.m., residents on Needmore Road felt the wind as it broke windows, downed trees and left a mobile home in a pile of rubble.

The severe weather that affected Pike County early yesterday was part of a storm system that stretched from the Great Lakes to the Southeast. The system produced several tornadoes and heavy rains and thunderstorms as it moved eastward. The storm battered parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and generated more than 30 tornado warnings across those states. But Pike County didn’t receive a tornado warning.

Pike County Emergency Management Agency Director Larry Davis said the damage came as a surprise because "we did not get a tornado warning."

He said officials from the National Weather Service will visit the area on Saturday to determine what exactly it was that passed through Thursday morning.

In Needmore Frank Martin’s family was affected by the storm, and suffered a great loss.

All that was left of his son’s mobile home was a pile that looked like it was ready for pickup.

"Fortunately, my son left five to 10 minutes before it happened or he would have been killed," Martin said looking at the remains of where his son lived.

Like his son, Martin wasn’t home, but his wife and mother-in-law were in a nearby brick house when the damaging winds blew through the area.

Another mobile home on the other side of the brick house and one across the street were also damaged.

Davis said damage was also reported on Shellhorn Road. That damage was to a roof and a number of trees down.

The Pike Pioneer Museum also did not escape and suffered some roof damage.

South Alabama Electric Cooperative workers were out Thursday morning repairing power lines knocked down by the strong winds.

Wendell Eiland of the Co-op said the damage included a couple of power lines.

"I think we got everything cleared up and everyone back on," Eiland said.

No injuries were reported.

Although the storms and the damages were not welcome in Pike County, the rain was. More than an inch of rain was recorded Thursday morning.

Behind the storm system, cooler, more Autumn-like temperatures are expected. Today’s high are expected to be in the mid 60s and lows near 40 degrees, and conditions are expected to continue throughout the weekend.