NWS confirms EF-3 tornado hit Jacksonville, Alabama Monday

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — Alabama's governor issued a state of emergency after Monday's damaging storms.

NWS officials from Birmingham confirmed Tuesday an EF-3 tornado hit Jacksonville, Alabama, bringing with it winds around 140 mph

At a news conference, Jacksonville city leaders confirmed no one has died.

Some people were taken to the hospital, but they should be okay.

It’s spring break at JSU so not as many students were on campus as usual.

Now, the community is left cleaning up.

“It’s gonna take a lot of work to get it back to the way it used to be,” said Owen Kilgore, football coach.

Kilgore and his wife Andrea live just ten minutes away from campus.

“I’m a football coach at Jacksonville State. I coach the cornerbacks,” Kilgore said.

Monday night, as the storm made its way through, Kilgore did the first thing any coach would do - check on his players.

“I know I had at least one in my position group that was here and then we had quite a few others on the team that stayed around,” he said.

Thankfully, Kilgore found out all the guys were safe.

“It’s a lot of good people. It’s a special place. They call it the friendliest campus in the south and I believe that’s true,” he said.

Just down the road from campus and left in the path of destruction are the remains of West Point Baptist Church.

From above, you can see how the storm ripped apart this house of worship.

The pastor says the church was planning to celebrate its 100th anniversary this May.

Back on campus, Jacksonville's Mayor has a strict message for anyone planning to wander around town.

"The entire campus is absolutely off limits. Do not attempt to enter that area. The north east area of the city will have checkpoints and unauthorized individuals will be turned away,” said Mayor Johnny Smith.

The Kilgores respect that and they're just thankful everyone's okay.

“We were prepared but luckily we did not get hit,” said Andrea Kilgore.

Jacksonville's Assistant Police Chief says a curfew has been set after 7 p.m. CST in an effort to prevent looting.