The Whitney community is in clean-up mode after the National Weather Service said an EF1 tornado blew through the town.
Mark Fox with NWS said the tornado ripped through Whitney between 6:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. Sunday night. He said the weather service designated the twister as an EF1 because of the damage it caused.
"Right in through here we're seeing a lot of evidence of that is in between 85-95 mph, so that going to put in the EF0-EF1 range," Fox said. "This was not an EF3, EF4, [or a] EF5 tornado, but still this is a lot of damage especially for a small area," he added.
Deandra West knows all about that damage first hand because the tornado totally destroyed her house and her car. She and her family were not home when the twister hit.
"Somebody had called me and told me it was bad," West said. "I expected it, but I didn't expect this much."
West and her family have been left to pick up the pieces after the storm, but they do not have to do so alone. That's because Jerry Moore and others in the community chipped in to help West.
"They said they lost their home here so we came out to help them," Moore said. "We came out to help them just like we would anyone else in our community."
Moore and others helped West get her car from under the rubble, and also pitched in to help them find things that were lost in all the mess.
"It's a good feeling anytime you're helping anybody out it's always a good feeling," he said. "I just hope everybody in the community steps up and helps their neighbors out, just like I did today -- and just like I know this family would do for anybody else around here."
West said seeing all of the work the community put in to help her made her proud to be a citizen of Whitney.
"It makes me feel good to know that our community came together," West said. "I was surprised, but I thank them. I really do."
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