NWS confirms 4 tornadoes in Baldwin County Saturday

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - The weekend weather left some folks in Baldwin County scared and homeless, while in other areas the damage was limited to trees and property. The National Weather Service has confirmed four separate tornado touchdowns in Baldwin County Saturday night, October 29, 2022. Three have been categorized as EF1 tornadoes and the fourth, an EF0.

JoAnn Balinsky and her 14-year-old son live off County Road 6 in Bon Secour and were inside their mobile home when their lives were literally turned upside down.

Mobile home in Bon Secour destroyed by reported EF1 tornado — Mobile home in Bon Secour destroyed by reported EF1 tornado(WALA)

“It was just rolling and throwing us everywhere,” Balinsky said.

Balinsky said there was little warning before the tornado hit.

“It happened so fast, that you really can’t think of nothing but trying to go find the other people in your home and when I couldn’t get to him, it was…just trying to survive it,” she recalled.

The two got away with their lives but that’s about all. The home and its contents were a complete loss. As they dealt with the nightmare around them, more tornado warnings and sightings popped up in Magnolia Springs, Point Clear and Spanish Fort.

In Spanish Fort, crews spent Monday removing a giant oak tree from the tennis courts at Spirit Park, where lights, fencing and the courts were damaged. The EF1 just missed City Hall.

Giant oak tree crashes through fence onto tennis court during reported EF1 tornado in Spanish Ft. — Giant oak tree crashes through fence onto tennis court during reported EF1 tornado in Spanish Ft.(Hal Scheurich)

The Fairhope K1 Center was damaged during the same storm which produced an EF0 tornado in Point Clear. After looking at the city’s surveillance camera footage from across the street, Fairhope mayor, Sherry Sullivan thinks it was powerful straight-line winds that caused the damage.

Brick façade at Fairhope K1 School crashes down during high winds from tornado-producing storm — Brick façade at Fairhope K1 School crashes down during high winds from tornado-producing storm(Hal Scheurich)

“You kind of see a little bit of rain, a little bit of wind and then all of a sudden you kind of see dust flying. You see barricades and barrels…the traffic cones in the middle of the street start flying and then, we could see some dust flying here when the bricks actually fell,” Sullivan said. “Sunday morning, somebody was walking by and saw this. Obviously, the street’s closed. There were not a lot of people out, so we were not even aware that this had happened.”

The only other damage reported along the eastern shore was to a couple small structures in Point Clear. County EMA said the Magnolia Springs tornado was south of County Road 12 in an uninhabited area.

If you’d like to help JoAnn Balinsky and her son, a Gofundme account has been set up.

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