Wetumpka Police Moving Forward After Last Month’s Tornado Destroyed Most of the Department’s Building
Wetumpka Police Chief Greg Benton says it is still unbelievable to see the damage that last month’s tornado left behind
Right now he is thankful that no officers were inside when the tornado hit and for their temporary location.
Police jackets hanging up inside seem to be untouched unlike everything else surrounding them – that is left of the police department’s building.
“I’ve been through some of these myself but never had my police department building destroyed,” says Benton.
Benton says the tornado ripped through most of the back of the building and just moments before it hit, officers were inside.
“Five minutes prior there were five police officers in the squad room having a briefing. They heard that a tornado was possible so they went out to try and spot it and five minutes later it hit this building,” says Benton.
That room is now destroyed. Other parts of the building, Benton says are heavily damaged.
“The sprinklers came on and on the back part of the building it was probably about a knee-deep on the upper floor and a couple of inches deep up here in front,” says Benton.
The department also lost 5 police cars.
“I think all of them are totaled. Three of them were brand new explorers and two of them were some old chargers,” says Benton.
Benton says it’s still unbelievable how big this EF-2 tornado was. However, he is confident in moving forward with the rest of the city, which remains “Wetumpka Strong.”
“I’m going to work with the mayor, we’re going to work with the insurance agency that covers the building and the vehicles and see what we get and try to find us another place to move into as quickly as possible and if that’s not possible then and we can’t find a place then we’ll rebuild,” says Benton.
Right now, the department is temporarily housed on the second floor of Wetumpka’s City Hall. The department does have new non emergency number. It’s (334) 567-5227.
Right now, there is no dollar amount on the damage the police department sustained. Officials are waiting on insurance adjusters to deliver that information.
