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By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HARPERSVILLE – Following the surprise disaster of an EF-0 tornado that tore through the El Gezira Riding Academy, the Harpersville community has come together to take on the task of rebuilding.

The storm ripped through the camp near Highway 280 in the midst of a storm cycle that occurred on Sunday, Dec. 29, creating damage to the barns that lay on the property and leaving debris scattered throughout.

“I had a good cry before I got to the property, and then once I got to the farm, it was like taking your breath away. I had to sit there for a minute and say, ‘Is this real?’”  said Amanda Westbrook, barn manager for El Gezira Riding Academy. “For 40 years, the structures have stood strong, and then suddenly it looks like somebody’s hand punched and peeled and destroyed. It was just a shock.”

Amongst the damage to the academy, the tornado took down the majority of the fencing and about 25 trees, as well as damaged or took off the roofs of all three barns. The academy also lost half of its feed and all of its hay, while also losing access to most of its medicinal supply.

The storm also caused a tree to fall through one of the horse stalls which contained a horse at the time. Luckily for Westbrook, none of her animals were injured.

“It was just a miracle, it was pure relief,” Westbrook said. “It was amazing, especially with one of our horses the tree fell on. It was shocking but just a huge relief because that would have kind of been the tip of the iceberg if we had lost our horses. A lot of these are my childhood horses, so I’m very thankful.”

Soon after the storm ended, the community came together in an effort to help clean up and rebuild the camp, surrounding an organization that has been a part of Harpersville for nearly half a century.

“I think seeing all of their faces was just really reassuring and almost solidified, ‘Yes this is a disaster, but it will be okay,’” Westbrook said. “It’s reconnected me with a lot of my camp counselors and people I haven’t talked to in over a decade, and having their support and being able to talk to them about this because they understand how much this farm means to us. It’s made everything tolerable and kind of fun in a way because having your teammates and your family is awesome. It just made everything a little more positive.”

Despite the recent events, El Gezira Riding Academy continues to carry on with its duties, providing lessons to riders that enjoy learning and wanting to get better at the activity.

“We’re one of the few schooling barns around. We provide riders who don’t necessarily have the funds or the know-all of having a horse with this opportunity to interact with such wonderful creatures and learn such a wonderful sport,” Westbrook said. “We’re still here and our horses are still healthy and safe and they still love to teach. It’s almost like amongst this chaos, we still have this little slice of peace in heaven.”

The academy encourages anyone who wishes to help the recovery to donate to its GoFundMe linked on its Facebook page.