MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) Businesses and homeowners are remembering an EF1 tornado that swept through Mobile a year ago, on December 20, 2012.National Weather Service officials confirmed that the twister touched down in the early morning hours with wind speeds up to 109 miles per hour. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, but the tornado caused major damage from Dauphin Street all the way up through the Crichton area. The owner of Healthy Beginnings Salon, Sonyia Roberts, said the tornado caused $22,000 in damage to her Sage Avenue business. The entire front section of her salon had to be rebuilt. She said she couldn't have done it without the help of her customers, because insurance didn't cover her losses since she didn't have wind coverage. We had somebody come lay sheetrock, we had somebody paint, we had my husband do the floor. You know, people were helping out like that and doing work. It was a blessing really, said Roberts. Down on Dauphin Street at the Mercedes-Benz Dealership, nearly every storm window was blown out from the powerful straight line winds and destruction was all over the lot. We had 44 vehicles that were completely totaled and 69 other vehicles were damaged, said General Sales Manager Jim Sullivan. However, he said 2013 was a good year. We're really blessed that more damage wasn't done, said Sullivan.
