CLARKE COUNTY, Ala. — Emergency managers in Clarke and Washington counties kept a close watch on a potential severe weather event approaching the area Saturday.
“If we start seeing damage back to our west, then we know we need to start watching them a little closer,” said Clarke County EMA Director Roy Waite.
Clarke County is no stranger to rough weather: an EF-1 tornado touched down in Thomasville the previous October, and Waite said the region sees some of the highest numbers of tornado warnings in the nation.
Waite pointed to a Washington Post analysis showing Washington County has logged more tornado warnings over the past decade than anywhere else in the country. He said both counties sit at higher elevation, and combined with their distance from the radar site in Mobile, tornadoes are not always easy to spot.