A walk through the neighborhoods near downtown Waldron on a Sunday afternoon is typically peaceful.

However, less than 24 hours after a tornado roared through southern Shelby County Saturday, the buzzing of chainsaws was ever present this past Sunday.

A confirmed EF-1 tornado began near Edinburgh just before 4 p.m. Saturday and ended approximately 15 minutes later in St. Paul. Wind speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour damaged buildings and trees along its path and contributed to a destructive house fire in Waldron.

Downed electrical lines led to downtown Waldron being without power for about 22 hours. Residences further south experienced longer power outages as Duke Energy and RushShelby Energy worked tirelessly to restore electricity to those affected.

“It got windy,” recalled Jeff Mitchell as he sat in front of his business, Waldron Takeout and Flea Market, 110 W. Washington St., in downtown Waldron Sunday afternoon. “I was inside and the (tornado) sirens went off and it started really raining horizontal for about 15 seconds. And that was about it.”

Mitchell walked outside after the storm subsided and saw a nearby house on fire.

A large tree toppled over on to a residence (main photo) and pulled down a live power line that sparked a nearby fire at 205 Main St. The brick home with a full basement owned by Carl Kremer was completely destroyed.

No one was injured at the residence (photo above), according to neighbor James Day, who was in Shelbyville at the time of the storm and returned to his W. Pearl St. home to find the Kremer residence engulfed in flames.

Once the sun rose Sunday, Waldron residents went into full clean-up mode.

“We drove through here last night about 1 a.m. and saw all the damage,” said Melvin Pierce. “We knew there wasn’t electricity or power so we decided we would come down.”

Pierce, owner of Mel’s Catering, brought his food truck to Waldron late Sunday morning and started serving pulled pork sandwiches, chips and water to anyone that needed a meal. He set up across the street from Mitchell’s business that was offering up free donuts and coffee.

“Hopefully, we can put a smile on someone’s face,” said Pierce.

Around 1 p.m. Bellacino’s Pizza and Grinders out of Shelbyville arrived in front of Waldron High School and served pizza to area residents and workers.

“The bigger story, in my opinion, is how everybody got together and helped their neighbors,” said Mitchell. “To me, that’s bigger news than a storm.”

Scott Kremer got word that a large tree fell onto the two apartments he owns on E. Tinker St. near the high school. While the damage was mostly superficial to the buildings, one tenant’s Chevy Equinox was flattened by the tree (photo above).

“Structurally it’s OK,” said Kremer of the apartment buildings. “The outside has cosmetic damage where the tree set down on each corner of the property.”

Kremer watched diligently as members of Pierce Tree Service (photo above) worked to dismantle the large tree.

By 2 p.m. Saturday, power was restored to downtown Waldron.

Duke Energy issued a media release Sunday afternoon stating power was restored to 43,000 customers after two waves of storms broke numerous utility poles and brought down power lines.

Repair work on power outages continues today for the hardest hit areas.