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Here we are — again.

For the fourth time in 73 days, Troup County has experienced a tornado. For those counting, we had two on Jan. 12; one surprise, overnight tornado on Feb. 17; and the one that struck the West Point area on Sunday.

We’re sure, that like us, many of you were woken up Sunday by hail pounding your roof, tornado sirens wailing in the background or a shrieking notification on your phone. Again.

We remember back in January, when a bad severe weather day in Alabama left all of us watching the news. We were waiting and hoping for the best.

Instead, when the storms got to us, areas of Troup County were hit pretty badly, many with damaged homes and roofs blown off. We told your stories of survival. Of getting to a hallway just in time. Of rushing over to help others.

That felt like a one-off, perhaps an overdue score adjustment by Mother Nature. It’d been many years since a significant tornado struck Troup County.

However, it was just the beginning.

Fast forward to February to an overnight tornado that occurred without a tornado watch and no tornado warning. It blew off roofs and caused some damage at Callaway Stadium.

And then there’s Sunday, the latest example of a tornado hitting our area.

Thanks to all of the rain Sunday and into Monday morning, recovery hasn’t even really begun for some of the people impacted. Local officials said 80 to 100 residences received damage, with 20 to 30 receiving extensive damage.

We’re over it, so we know you’re over it too.

We’re incredibly lucky that no one has been killed in any of these storms, especially given the time of day. The first two occurred right as school was getting out. The third occurred overnight, again with no prompting for people to get into a safe place. And Sunday’s tornado warning was in the early hours of a sleepy Sunday morning, one where we assume many hadn’t even gotten out of bed to get ready for church.

There’s never a good time for a tornado, but those scenarios are usually the worst type of timing, considering people aren’t positioned to where they are paying lots of attention.

Thankfully, only a few people have even been injured in all of the tornadoes in 2023, and none suffered life-threatening injuries.

That’s truly a blessing.

We know the road to recovery will be long for those impacted by Sunday’s storm, but we know many are going to jump in and help as soon as they can.

To the victims of this storm, know that Troup County has you in its thoughts and prayers.

Hopefully, this will be the last severe weather day we deal with for a while.

Mother Nature owes us a break.