Tornado brings damage, chaos to Langley, other parts of Aiken County

LANGLEY, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF1 tornado hit Langley Monday morning, bringing damage to the Langley Fire Department building and other parts of Aiken County.

The tornado is reported to have hit at 3:26 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

The fire department saw lots of damage to their building on Augusta Road due to the high winds.

Damage can be seen to the fire department’s bay doors and car ports were scattered along yards and roads, according to a News 12 crew on scene.

“The fire pump has a lot of damage. You can tell this is the front part, the back is pretty messed up. We can’t get our engine out. It took the whole door and pushed it all in. We still can get one engine out if we need to and we do have other stations that we can get to help,” said Langley Fire Assistant Chief Harold Cain.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW WITH LANGLEY FIRE ASSISTANT CHIEF:

Augusta Road at Dunba Street, which was closed early Monday morning due to the storm, reopened around 5:15 p.m.

New Holland Road and Farmfield Road were also closed, and we have not received an update on the status.

In the city of Aiken, officers closed Price Avenue between Whiskey Road and Two Notch Road due to flooding.

“Try to stay off the roads as much as you can as power lines are down and trees are everywhere. Try to watch that you avoid areas that we’re in right now. The roads are blocked off. Just be careful and be safe on these roads and try to stay away,” said Cain.

In the surrounding neighborhoods, you can see the path that the tornado took as it tore through.

One minute, neighbors were sleeping. The next, they were running.

“It sounded like a train was coming through my bedroom,” said Tammy Taylor, a Langley resident. " I screamed for my kids to run into the hallway, into the bathroom with me.”

And soon after, it was silent.

“After about four minutes, it was done,” said Taylor. “Those four minutes, I was in my shower, shivering with my granddaughter hooked to me.”

Not knowing what they were going to walk out and see.

“I didn’t know what it was until I came out and realized it was my carport, and it was gone,” said Taylor. “So that speaks for itself.”

The wind hit hard and fast, leaving nothing the same.

“I was just thankful the tree didn’t hit the house,” said Brandon Mason, a Langley resident. “That’s what I was really thankful for. I mean, because if it would’ve been the house, that would’ve been my bedroom and that’s where I was at.”

Instead, a tree crushed the Mason family’s car.

“I’ve been crying about my car since three o’clock this morning, 3:30 this morning because we are, we’re a family of seven with five kids and that’s our only transportation,” said Alicia Mason, a langley resident. “Now it’s gone, and we didn’t have full coverage, so we can’t get another one.”

Still, they consider themselves lucky.

“Luckily, it’s not any severe damage and our family’s all right,” said Alicia. “I’m thankful my family’s all right.”

Some lost a car, or part of a roof, but not each other.

“Everybody came out,” said Taylor. “We were all out on the road. We were all out here hugging each other. This is a little community as I call us.”

At 4:40 p.m., at least 42 customers are without power in the Langley area, according to Dominion Energy.

Multiple trees were seen down across Aiken County as well.

According to Aiken County deputies, they were working on multiple trees down in the area of Langley Dam Road. They were cleared as of 6:45 a.m.

Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.