Troy Tornado Damages Businesses
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An EF-1 tornado rips through Troy, six people were injured. And there’s extensive damage to the city’s largest retailer- Walmart and the Hibbett Sports.
It happened heading into tax free weekend, one of the busiest back to school shopping weekends of the year.
Troy leaders say typically during a tax free weekend the city can see an increase up to 30 percent in tax revenue. That’s because people will be out buying not just those back to school tax exempt items. And thousands of University students spent the weekend moving onto campus. But, with the city’s largest retailer closed that left many shoppers changing their plans.
Lauren Smith, from Montgomery said, “That was the plan but well since the tornado came through the plans have changed. But we are just glad nobody got hurt.”
Suzanne Boyd, from Fort Walton Beach said, “We were just kind of wrapping things up today. So we grocery shopped for her in Fort Walton and picked up anything we thought we might be going to Walmart for we went and picked up in Fort Walton and just brought it. So we don’t have to do anything here except unload.”
Walmart may open the grocery portion of the store in the coming days. No word yet on future plans for the Hibbetts.
