Crews have been working to clean up debris from a recent tornado touchdown in Bedford County. The EF1 tornado took residents by surprise early Christmas morning.
Officials got a better look Monday at the destruction following a surprise tornado touchdown in Shelbyville on Christmas Day.
A passing storm spawned a tornado around 7:15 a.m. Friday, even though there were no tornado watches or warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
It hit two major factories in Bedford County – the Newell Rubbermaid building, and the neighboring Calsonic Kansei factory. The tornado peeled back the roof on one building and damaged a garage door and carport among other things.
No one was working at the time at either location due to the holiday.
Bedford County officials said the Christmas tornado was a good reminder that even though they're rare, tornados can pop up in storms without warning.
“On occasion - it happens rarely, but sometimes we do get what I call a little ‘sneak attack’ and that's what we apparently did get,” said Scott Johnson, the Bedford County EMA director.
Bedford County emergency officials said the twister touched down dangerously close to five different mobile home parks, but they were not hit.
