Grateful to have survived devastating tornado, Alabama families look to rebuild: ‘We still have each other’
“Everything is gone. Everything she had. But we still have her.”
That is how Glennis Black described the wreckage of what had been her mother’s home in the aftermath of a tornado that destroyed at least two homes off Killingsworth Cove in the Madison County community of Gurley on Tuesday night.
“We still have each other,” Black said of the house that had been her mother’s home for 60 years.
The house had also been Black’s childhood home.
“Things can be replaced,” she said. “We’re thankful to God he wrapped his arms around her and kept her safe.”
Her mother, 84-year-old Dorothy Osmer, took shelter at Black’s brother’s home just up the hill about 10 minutes before the tornado touched down shortly after 7 p.m.
“They just got into his basement and all of the windows blew out of his house,” Black said.
Dusty Gipson and his family were safe in the community shelter when the tornado struck their home and blew it into pieces, carrying much of it into an open field across the road.
When the tornado passed, Gipson’s main concern was his grandmother’s house. He went to check on it as soon as it was safe to do so.
It was there. But he soon discovered his wasn’t.
“I couldn’t see up this way, so we got in the truck and came up and saw it,” Gipson said.
“Within five minutes after it hit, we knew we lost everything. … everything but the clothes we had on our backs.”
He has lived in the community all his life but had lived only three years where his home once stood.
“Forty-two years of my life is scattered a quarter mile up the road,” Gipson said.
Volunteers work through the debris of what had been Dusty Gipson’s home after it was destroyed by a tornado off Killingsworth Cove Road in Gurley on Tuesday. The home had been across the road. May 20, 2025Scott Turner/AL.com
Killingsworth Cove Volunteer Firefighter Jim Quillin considers himself one of the lucky ones.
Unlike the Gipsons and Osmer, he was home when the tornado came through.
If the tornado had been 100 yards to the south, he said it would have gone right through the middle of his house.
“I heard it when it touched down on the mountain and started tearing up trees,” Quillin said. “We went inside and sat down under the stairwell. About 10 seconds later, it was gone.”
He said the tornado sounded like a helicopter and caused his house to rattle.
Quillin was among volunteer firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and other first responders checking on neighbors while dozens of volunteers helped residents like Gipson and Osmer literally pick up the pieces Wednesday morning.
Huntsville and Decatur utility crews were busy working on downed power lines along the roads.
The Gipsons and Osmer’s family were also dealing with insurance adjusters.
“The insurance company said we can try to salvage what we could … which is very little,” Black said.
“All of her gardening stuff, those glass jars of peas and tomatoes made it through, though.”
She said her mother was still very much in shock.
Osmer stayed with Black’s sister overnight and was still trying to process what had happened. Black’s mother will be moving in with her in Elkmont for the time being.
The Gipsons stayed overnight in a hotel, but will likely being staying with friends and family until they can get into a rental home supplied by their insurance company.
“We’re going to do what we’ve always done,” Gipson said.
“We’re going to get to work. We’re going to keep pushing forward. We’re not going to let it slow us down. We’re going to do what needs to be done. We’re going to build back better.”
According to Huntsville-Madison County Emergency Management Officer Peter Randolph, the National Weather Service was still assessing the damage to determine the strength of the tornado that hit the Gurley area.
The weather service was also trying to assess how many tornadoes actually touched down in Madison County.
In addition to the Killingsworth Cove area, Randolph said damage occurred in Madison near Bob Jones High School, along Balch Road, near Clift Farm and on Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville.
He said most of the damage consisted of downed trees and power lines.
Randolph said officials were still assessing the amount of structural damage, which also included a building that was completely destroyed behind the Killingsworth Cove Volunteer Fire Department and a damaged home adjacent to Gipson’s property.

Family members try to salvage Dorothy Osmer’s belongings after a tornado destroyed her home on Killingsworth Road in Gurley on Tuesday night. May 20, 2025Scott Turner/AL.com