CAIRO — Local officials are still calculating the extent of the damage from a tornado that touched down Sunday night in Cairo.

There are no reported serious injuries or deaths from the storm, though one individual was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

“It’s been a real eye-opener,” said Mayor Booker Gainor. “Thank God we don’t have any casualties.”

The mayor said he could not provide an exact estimate as to when impacted areas in the city could return to their normal functions.

City manager Chris Addleton said crews from Grady EMC and the city of Thomasville were helping restore power to the hardest hit areas.

Local officials including Gainor and city council member Jerry Cox said the event appears even more devastating than Hurricane Michael’s impact in October, with numerous total losses in a highly concentrated area.

“It’s fairly localized, but there’s a path that starts at Monrovia Nurseries and pretty much goes to the fire station. It kind of tracked northeast,” Addleton said. “It’s a rough estimate, but there’s probably 100 houses with extensive damage.”

The Georgia State Patrol conducted an aerial survey Monday afternoon with Addleton, county Emergency Management Agency director Richard Phillips, city fire chief Bill Schafer and Georgia EMA officials.

Preliminary findings from a National Weather Service survey determined the tornado was likely of EF2 strength with approximate wind speeds of 120 miles per hour.

“We’re just fortunate nobody was hurt and we’re fortunate that it was nothing as bad as what we saw in Alabama or some other states,” said Grady County administrator Buddy Johnson, referring to a related weather event in Alabama that left at least 23 people dead along with extensive structural damage.

A Red Cross shelter was opened Monday at the Grady County Agri-Center to provide meals and beds if the need arises.

Governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in Grady and two other counties Monday before touring storm damage across the region.

“With extensive storm damage in Grady, Harris, and Talbot Counties, it is imperative that we take swift action to help affected Georgians and deploy state resources in ongoing response and recovery efforts,” the governor stated in a press release. “This declaration immediately dispatches additional first responders and assistance as we continue to assess the damage.”

All county schools were closed Monday for students and teachers.

School superintendent Kermit Gilliard said classes would not resume Tuesday. Gilliard said Southside Elementary and Cairo High School lost power during the storm.

The superintendent said aside from losing power, Southside suffered minor structural damage during the storm. Some ceiling tiles were scattered off the ceiling grid along the 4th and 5th grade wing of the school. A gazebo on the school’s playground was also destroyed.

Gilliard said there were fallen and damaged trees at both schools as well.

Chamber of Commerce director Trey Gainous said he was aware of more than 10 downtown business that were damaged by the storm.

“Our downtown proper is in disrepair for sure,” Gainous said.

Johnson said two ambulance vehicles that happened to be in the area where the tornado hit suffered some damage.

Recovery crews erected roadblocks downtown as they cleared debris Sunday night and into Monday.

“It’s like October all over again,” said Kacey Oliver, owner of Cairo Acrobatics. “But this community comes together so well and everybody is out working hard to put it back together.”

Oliver said out of all the businesses in the large complex where she is located, hers was the only one that suffered serious damage.

The business owner said the roof of a rear storage area of her gym completely came off during the storm, but said the interior of the building was largely undamaged and could reopen when power is restored.

“It’s crazy how the tornado didn’t take one path,” Oliver said. “It’s almost like it dropped down, picked up, dropped down, picked up. It’s almost like it dropped down on the front of me, picked up, then hit the back side of the building.”

Resident Ed Kennett, whose 1st Street home only suffered moderate structural damage, said he was thankful his home was not as heavily impacted as some of his immediate neighbors.

“That third yellow house that’s collapsed belongs to a friend of mine,” Kennett said, pointing down the street. “It’s a total.”

Kennett’s home suffered a blown-out window and several shingles were blown off during the storm. A tree landed on top of his garage, though he said it did not appear anything was badly damaged inside.

Some nearby electrical cables were yanked as first responders cleared debris and Kennett’s water fixture also began overflowing.

Just down the block, a pair of trees caved into a house, completely destroying it in the process.

“It must have just come in here and ripped all the way through (the neighborhood),” Kennett said.

Kennett, who has never experienced a tornado before, said he and his family were watching weather updates on his tablet when they received an alert that a tornado cell was forming above Cairo and city’s warning system began blaring.

“We had most of the closet cleared out already,” Kennett said. “So we just took the dogs, got in the closet and waited for all-clear sound.”

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee issued an initial tornado warning in Grady County at 7:51 p.m. Sunday.

The NWS reissued the warning once a tornado was confirmed to be on the ground at 8:04 p.m.

Parks Camp, science and operations officer, stated the exact time the tornado formed was probably between the two times and that the event likely did not last longer than 10 minutes.

Camp said a survey team was in Cairo Monday to determine the path and intensity of the tornado.

“We won’t know exactly when it touched down and when it lifted until they finish their survey and find the beginning point and end point of the tornado,” Camp said.