Government St. business employee witnessed twister

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - “I’ve never been in a war zone but I’m sure that’s what it looks like,” Josh Holman said.

Holman was inside the Walgreens on Government St. at the loop in Mobile when a tornado struck the area on Christmas Day.

The storm wreaked havoc throughout the Midtown area and outside the Walgreens that Holman was inside shows the wind moving vehicles.

“I was on the phone with my brother-in-law trying to get an update from him exactly when it hit,” Holman said.

“I was in the stock room, and transformers were popping out here and the lights were turning green outside from all the transformers popping,” he said, comparing the sound to “a washing machine full of rocks.”

Holman said the twister moved across the pharmacy’s parking lot from a nearby Autozone and shows vehicles’ windows being blown out as they are blown away by the storm.

“It was pretty intense,” he said.

Holman said the parking lot was littered with tin, glass and other debris lifted from buildings around the area.

Holman said, “I was just thankful I was alive because if it had been a hundred yards the other way it would have ripped through the middle of the store.”

Wednesday, Holman said it’s business as usual at Walgreens. There was some clean-up that morning.

“Just had the parking lot picked up trying to clean up and get things straightened out. Make it look like nothing happened and going about our business,” He said.

“Normal hours 24/7; that’s what we do."