Some Roger Williams families relocated following storm

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The move was under way Friday, Dec. 28, for several families at Roger Williams Housing District after their homes left in tatters by Tuesday’s tornado. 

Mobile Housing Authority officials were back on site assessing damages.  The roof was completely blown off of one unit while the one next door had the windows shattered. 

Donte Davis watched as the storm approached.

“I walked outside thinking, ‘It’s just raining; and all of a sudden, I see the clouds, and they were just dark,” recalled Davis.  “They were just going a certain direction, and they were real, real black. So I’m thinking it must be fixin to pour down so I start hearing a siren and stuff, and so I don’t pay it no attention.  Next thing, I just start seeing paper in the air flying around, so that’s when I had grabbed the phone and recorded it and all that.”

Davis ran inside for safety and made it through unscathed.  His aunt who lives in the apartment was thankful she wasn’t there at the time.

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“I’m the type of person that don’t pay attention to warnings,” said Ms. Davis.  “I would have been upstairs, my children would have been outside playing and a tornado’s coming.  I know somebody would have been dead so I’m grateful to God that I wasn’t here.”

The Mobile Housing Authority is still assessing the overall damage at Roger Williams.  They don’t know yet how many units were affected.  They think nine or ten.  Families there say they’re thankful for the swift action they’ve taken to get them relocated.

“The Housing Board…they did a great job,” said Kris Marshall.  “I give the Housing Board…a tremendous job.”

“The Housing Board did do a tremendous job,” Davis added.  “I mean the place they put me is much nicer than here.  It’s smaller, but it’s much nicer.”

The one problem that some families still face is being able to replace food that was lost due to the power being out after the storm.

The Mobile Housing Authority tells us up to 10 of their units there have received some level of damage and four families have been relocated as of Friday.  Those folks have been moved to the R. V. Taylor Housing District.