Gary Williams, the superintendent of Franklin County schools, recently discussed how the April 27, 2011 tornadoes impacted the county, how they changed our perception of severe weather, and how we have moved forward since the events of that tragic day five years ago.
Williams is a graduate of Belgreen High School’s class of 1975. After graduating, he went to Northwest Shoals Community College and eventually graduated from the University of North Alabama.
On April 27, 2011, Franklin County schools were let out early. This early release saw students getting home hours before the tornadoes hit instead of risking the possibility of a bad situation if the students were kept all day.
Williams discussed the decision in letting the schools out early as the emergency alert team in Franklin County had suggested. In addition, he mentioned the difficulty involved with making the choice when it came to parents understanding the situation.
“We follow the emergency management team here in Franklin County, and they had called us the day before," Williams said. "We’d been looking at this for two days before, and we knew that things could be bad. Of course, we didn’t know things would be as bad as they were, but we were told by them that there was a storm coming.
"Actually, that morning a storm came through with tornadoes that didn’t touch the ground. We weren’t aware of those, and so we were in school and had to do our drills. I talked with emergency management that morning at nine o’clock. They had a call from the National Weather Service, and we had a briefing at nine. We decided to get out as quick as possible, and that was 11 o’clock.
"I had a phone call that morning, after we announced that school would be let out early at about 9:30. About 9:45, I had probably the worst chewing out I ever had in my career from someone wanting to know why we were letting school out that afternoon. I explained to the guy that there was a storm coming, and he wanted to know when they made me the weather man. I said that I wasn’t the weather man, but that I listen to him. It’s never a win-win situation when you let school out, but if we make an error then it will be on the side of safety."
Right before the storm, Williams was still in his office at the Franklin County Board of Education. Upon leaving at 2:30 that afternoon, he returned to his home in East Franklin to hear the sounds of the tornadoes approaching. In the storm, several trees were knocked over around his property, and nearby chicken houses were obliterated.
While he was unable to get out to survey the damage right after the storms, Williams was able to get to Phil Campbell the next day to see the destruction. After seeing how much damage was done to the high school, Williams helped make the decision to rebuild the high school.
“It was a struggle at first to find the funding because of our insurance," he said. "The buildings were depreciated forty percent, so out of the twenty-five million that we needed, our insurance only covered twelve. FEMA covered about six million, and then we had to start trying to find some funding so we could build it back."
In the five years since the storms, Williams said that the most important changes in the county are the way that the people bond together to help one another, as well as the county’s ability to return to normal.
“I think that because of the storm, and I’m talking about the whole county, people pulled together during that time," he said. "We had people from all over the county come into Phil Campbell to help clean up or bring water or food to people. It was just an overwhelming response from people all over the country, but mainly here in Franklin County.
“I think it’s taking some time to get things back to normal. We lost twenty-eight people in the Phil Campbell and East Franklin areas, including two students and a teacher. It’s just taking time to mend, and I think that we’re still doing that, but I think it’s coming along pretty good. Now that the school has been rebuilt and we’ve been in there almost two years now, I think having the school back has lifted people’s spirits tremendously."
For the five-year anniversary, Williams said that he would like to thank the community for the way they have come together to help mend the lives of the people of Franklin County.
