Officials confirmed that three tornadoes hit the region Sunday afternoon, with Aiken being hit by two and Edgefield falling victim to a third.
The tornadoes caused severe structural and yard damage across the Southside of Aiken, with winds peaking at 115 miles per hour. The one in Edgefield County hit about four miles northwest of Trenton and was the weakest at 80 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service in Columbia. The Edgefield tornado produced no structural damage but did result in downed trees.
There are no reported injuries or casualties.
The weather service made the determination Monday during a sweep of the city and determined that tornadoes struck Aiken Estates and Woodside Plantation around 4 p.m. Sunday, with the Edgefield tornado following shortly after. The group was accompanied by Aiken County Emergency Services, and Director Tommy Thompson said the City will be offering curbside pickup for residents who get debris to the side of the street.
Tim Coakley, the director of Aiken Public Services, confirmed and said residents in the city limits usually have to abide by certain rules with their garbage fee. For the next two weeks, residents can pile limbs, siding and other forms of debris by the side of the road at no extra charge, Coakley said. He added that it would help if residents kept metal items separate.
The County will not offer debris pickup services, and neither of the two government bodies will offer recovery assistance because damage was low enough for residents to assume individual responsibility, Thompson said.
"We haven't compiled the total number of people who called in yet, but what we can say is that the roads are cleared," Thompson said.
The Aiken tornadoes were both classified as an EF-2, and the one in Edgefield was an EF-0. The highest classification is EF-5, with winds surpassing 300 miles per hour.
During Monday's assessment, the weather service and EMS determined that the Silver Bluff area, Woodside Plantation and Aiken Estates were hit the hardest.
Officials said Aiken experienced tornadoes versus a straight-line wind storm in these areas. A straight-line wind storm is a storm that can have the same impact as a tornado but travels in a straight line instead of a random, circular pattern.
Kim Campbell, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service, said teams mapped out plans and used archived data to help make their trip to Aiken more efficient.
"The damage to well-constructed homes and the large trees that were snapped in half helped us make that determination," Campbell said. "And the main tornado path was pretty easy to identify."
Right off Silver Bluff on Medinah Drive, Aiken resident Sam Johnson watched as the weather service and Aiken County EMS assessed the damage. In his yard, Johnson already had crews working on the large, jagged holes in his roof and breaking down the trees that fell in his back yard.
Johnson said the noise only lasted about 10 seconds but caused major damage to his home, including his garage caving in, leaving debris everywhere.
"It was just really loud, and we came outside to see all of this," Johnson said. "I don't know how long it's going to take, but I'm just glad they're back there to get everything cleaned up."
Residents weren't the only ones concerned about cleanup efforts.
Caton Patel, owner of 3 Way Gas Station, said the tornado caused severe roof damage to his store and downed several trees.
The storm also tore the canopy off the gas pumps, but Patel said he is still open for business.
Near the store, South Aiken Presbyterian Church had members out Monday morning breaking down more tree limbs and stacking the debris.
Member Leo Toomajian said church members got to work first thing Monday morning.
"We had some limbs down on both sides of the church, and we started around 8 this morning," Toomajian said Monday. "But there's still plenty of work to do."
While residents were busy cleaning up the debris, Aiken's two major power companies were busy getting lines back up and restoring power.
After reporting nearly 8,000 combined outages in Aiken on Sunday, SCE&G and Aiken Electric reported zero outages by Monday afternoon.
Thompson said he tips his hat to the power companies and to the all of the emergency teams in the City of Aiken and Aiken County.
"We all responded well, and I can't say enough about how well the recovery effort went," Thompson said.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.